Month: June 2014

Karan Kanwar, 3, starts crying whenever his mother puts him on the ground, hoping one day her son will take baby steps like other children. An extremely weak Karan cannot walk until he is propped up.

Karan’s poor physical state is shared by most children his age in Aagar – a village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district – where almost none of them has been vaccinated against major diseases like diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, tuberculosis and measles.

The Holy month of Ramadan is on the horizon. Hence the Alif Brand company in collaboration with Siasat has started its one of a kind scheme through which a coupon will be published in Siasat. People who collect 5 coupons from Monday to Friday will be provided items worth Rs. 500 at the cost of just Rs. 250. The quality of the items provided in the kit for Rs. 250 will be on a par with national and international brands. The scheme will begin from 1st of Ramadan. Made with the natural herbs the items provided in the kit will be a boon for its consumers.

Siasat news

Wimbledon tickets are reportedly being sold for 10,140 pounds for the men’s singles final next Sunday and two seats for the men’s semifinals next Friday for the same amount.

One can also reportedly get two seats for 8,580 pounds to watch the men’s quarterfinals on Centre Court on Wednesday and for 3,120 one get a pair of women’s final tickets for next Saturday.

According to the Daily Star, Wimbledon organisers have tough rules that ban touts from reselling tickets but they allow rich customers, who buy debenture seats for the Championships, to buy tickets for a hefty profit.

A 6.2-magnitude quake Sunday jolted Japan’s Iwo Jima Island.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the epicentre was determined at 24.6 degrees north latitude and 142.2 degrees east longitude, with a depth of 170 km.

–IANS

A simple hairstyle could change your whole look. But even a good hairstyle is at its best when you have undamaged beautiful hair.

Actress Kangana Ranaut, who despite her unruly corkscrew curls is famous for experimenting with them, says, “the beauty of Indian women is their thick dark hair”, while Sonam Kapoor agrees that she constantly looks at new things to do with her hair.

Family members of Indians stranded in war-ravaged Iraq have said they will be leaving for national capital New Delhi today to meet with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Speaking to ANI, Gurpinder Kaur, the sister of Manjinder Singh, one of the Indians abducted by Iraqi rebels, said: “We are going to meet the External Affairs Minister. We have not got any information (about our relatives) as yet. We will plead with her to bring back my brother who is stranded in Iraq.

Muslims across the country will observe the holy fasting month of Ramzan from Monday. In a statement issued in New Delhi, the Shahi Imam of the Fatehpuri Mosque, Maulana Mufti Mukarram Ahmed, said that since the new moon was not sighted on Saturday, the month of Ramzan will start on Monday. He said that had the moon been sighted on Saturday, the fasting month of Ramzan would have commenced from Sunday. Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is observed as a fasting period by Muslims, who abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.

Gold jewellery retailer and exporter Senco Gold is eyeing up to 60% growth in revenue to over Rs 2,000 crore in next three years following plans to add around 25 stores in the western and northern region, a top company executive has said.

“We have a strong presence in the eastern region with 52 stores. We are planning to add another 20-25 stores mainly in the west and the north by 2016-17 financial year. This will boost our revenue growth by 50-60% in three years to about Rs 1,950-2,050 crore,” Senco Gold Executive Director Suvankar Sen told PTI here.

China has evacuated more than 1,200 Chinese workers trapped in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra to Iraq’s capital city Baghdad.

According to China Daily, the evacuated Chinese employees, hired by China Machinery Engineering Corporation, were working at a construction site of a local power plant in Samarra, capital of the Salahudin province, which is close to the on-going clashes between the militants and the government security forces.

The Chinese embassy in Baghdad said that the workers were evacuated in two batches.

The new government may enhance the Plan expenditure for 2014-15 by around Rs 11,000 crore in the Budget next month, which would be about 2% higher than what was provided in the previous fiscal budget.

However, the proposed plan spending for the fiscal would be higher by about Rs 90,790 crore or 19% over the revised estimates for 2013-14.

The plan expenditure, or GBS (gross budgetary support), is the government spending on social sector schemes such as Bharat Nirman, rural employment guarantee and National Rural Health Mission.

Prince harry fixed a TV set before the football match while visiting a family in the Chilean shanty town that had been devastated by wildfires.

The Prince, who is a football fan himself, was visiting the temporary home of Coca Perez and her teenage son and daughter in a slum outside the former capital Valparaiso when he spotted the television was not working, the Mirror reported.

The 50-year-old said that when Captain Harry Wales looked at the TV, he started to fiddle with the cable but he managed to get it working so they could watch Chile playing Brazil.

Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan today flayed Narendra Modi government over alleged misgovernance and inflation, saying that the BJP regime will “destroy” the country’s economy within five years.

“Spiralling prices of essential commodities is sufficient indication that BJP government is all set to destroy the country’s economy within five years if it is allowed to remain in power,” said Khan.

He said, “in the near future, people will be forced to pay Rs 150 per kilogram of onions as the government has been inactive on this count.”

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer advanced to the last 16 at Wimbledon after defeating Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin and Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo respectively.

Nadal came through 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 under the Centre Court roof as rain stopped play elsewhere at the All England Club, while Federer advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 win over Giraldo.

Iraq’s army has launched a major offensive on the northern city of Tikrit, forcing ISIS-led Sunni militants to retreat, state media says.

Thousands of Iraqi troops launched an offensive on Sunni militants in Tikrit from four directions with tanks and air power on Saturday.

According to the BBC, state television said the governor’s HQ had been recaptured and 60 fighters from the ISIS militant group killed.

A spokesman for the rebels confirmed heavy fighting. However, he said that the attack had failed, saying they were pursuing what was left of the army offensive, the report said.

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal produced a dominating performance to lift her second title of the season, winning the USD 750,000 Star Australian Super Series after beating Spain’s Carolina Marin in the summit clash here today.

The sixth seeded Indian, who had won the India Open Super Series earlier this year, prevailed 21-18 21-11 in a 43-minute contest which left her richer by USD 56,000.

After several postponements due to bad weather, NASA finally sent a flying-saucer-like test vehicle high into the skies to try out technologies that could one day be used to land on Mars.

The US space agency launched its ‘Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator’ vehicle yesterday, which includes two new devices for testing — an inflatable device for deceleration and a “mammoth parachute” for landings.

Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah was today sworn in as the Governor of Karnataka.

Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice D H Waghela administered the oath of office and secrecy to Rosaiah here.

Rosaiah has been given additional charge after H R Bhardwaj relinquished his office yesterday following the end of his tenure.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other dignitaries were present at the occasion.

–PTI

The death toll in the 11 storey-building collapse in Chennai has gone up to nine while about 25 people trapped under the debris have been rescued, officials said.

According to Fire Service and police officials nine people have lost their lives in the under-construction residential building’s collapse Saturday evening that trapped over 50 people.

Around 20 of the 25 people rescued are alive. The rescue operations continued through Saturday night and are still on.

The injured have been admitted in the nearby hospital.

North Korea Sunday fired two short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast, a South Korean military official said.

“North Korea fired each missile from the vicinity of Wonsan, Gangwon Province, at about 4:50 a.m. and 4:58 a.m. into the East Sea,” Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

“Their range was about 500 km,” the official added.

According the official, North Korea fired the missiles without designating no-sail zones, which the South Korean military view as a clear provocation.

Commerce ministers of India and Pakistan will meet in Bhutan in July to discuss the revival of talks on trade liberalisation, media reported.

According to officials, the ministers would me­et July 24, Dawn online reported.

This will be the first meeting of Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman with Pakistan’s Comm­erce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan after the formation of India’s new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I will meet the Indian state minister for commerce for resumption of bilateral trade talks,” Khan said.

The devout Muslims in Kerala will for the next almost 30 days be indulged in prayers, fasting, charity and religious activity as the holy month of Ramadan began here early Sunday.

The supreme leader of the Indian Union Muslim League Pannakad Hyder Ali Shihab Thangal and other religious leaders addressed the masses about the importance of the month of Ramadan.

Muslims in Kerala constitute roughly 24 percent of the 3.3 crore population of the state.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

While Indian tennis player Leander Paes progressed to the third round of men’s doubles, compatriot Sania Mirza lost out in the women’s doubles second round on a rain affected Day 6 of the All England Tennis Championship at Wimbledon here.

Heavy showers stopped play Saturday afternoon when Mexican-American pair Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky were leading 2-1 in the first set against fifth seeded Indo-Czech duo Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek.

A year has passed since Uttarakhand was ravaged by floods, but the Himalayan state still lies in shambles. Hoping to avoid future disasters, IIT Roorkee is studying the “dynamic behaviour” of the rivers, which have changed their course, to adopt suitable measures, says its director Pradipta Banerji.

The institute is also planning to channelise the skills of local artisans to develop new design paradigms.

India’s sixth seed Saina Nehwal clinched the women’s singles title at the $750,000 Australian Badminton Open Super Series by defeating Spain’s Carolina Marin in the final here Sunday.

Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal won the match 21-18, 21-11 in 43 minutes at the States Sports Centre to take home a prize cheque of $56,250.

–IANS

The new NDA government has given no indication it is better equipped than its UPA predecessor in tackling the myriad crises affecting India’s economy, according to a group of policy analysts who discussed here the challenges before the dispensation ahead of the union budget on July 10.

“The belief system that characterised UPA 1 and 2 is also the same as the NDA’s and that is quite inappropriate for tackling the multiple crises of the Indian economy”, said Deepak Nayyar, emeritus professor of economics at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.