Month: August 2014

TRS MLA G Balaraju has slammed BJP leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy for his remarks against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

A man was arrested and $48,700, meant for buying illegal arms from Myanmar, were seized during an operation by security agencies along the Assam-Mizoram border, police said here Sunday.

The operation was conducted by Assam Rifles along with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Zanlawn village in Kolasib district, which shares inter-state boundary with Assam’s Cachar and Hailakandi districts.

Wine makers have reasons to cheer as researchers have discovered a system that prevents “stuck fermentation” – a chronic problem that spoils wine.

Working with a prion – an abnormally shaped protein that can reproduce itself – the system enables bacteria in fermenting wine to switch yeast from sugar to other food sources without altering the yeast’s DNA.

In “stuck fermentation”, yeast that should convert grape sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide prematurely shuts down, leaving the remaining sugar to instead be consumed by bacteria that spoils the wine.

A high-level meeting presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was held here Sunday to discuss the current situation in the country, especially in the light of anti-government protestors’ presence and Saturday night’s clashes near the prime minister house, Radio Pakistan reported.

At least eight protestors were reported killed and 450 people injured in clashes with police Saturday night.

Some federal ministers, including Interior Minster Nisar Ali Khan, attended the meeting in which a report of Saturday night violence was presented.

BJP’s Delhi unit president Satish Upadhyay has said the party will keep a tab on the work of its legislators and councillors in the state to bring in greater accountability.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will seek details of the money spent by MLAs and councillors in welfare activities, Upadhyay told IANS.

“We will ask them the details of money sanctioned for the welfare activities and the amount spent by them,” Upadhyay said.

BJP rules all three municipal corporations in Delhi and has a total of 138 councillors. The party has 28 MLAs in the 70-member state assembly.

A day after union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that the Bihar assembly polls in 2015 would be fought under the leadership of Sushil Kumar Modi, senior BJP leaders Sunday objected to his projection as the party’s face.

Radha Mohan Singh Saturday said Sushil Modi will be the BJP’s face in the next state assembly polls. He is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Motihari.

Sushil Modi is a popular face and acceptable to all in Bihar, Radha Mohan Singh said at the state party headquarters here.

In what could shed light on why soldiers march in step, researchers have found that men who walk in unison judge potential threats as less formidable than men who walk alone.

The act of marching itself makes the soldiers see potential enemies as less frightening, the study suggested.

“Humans find synchronous behaviour very rewarding, whether people are performing religious rituals or performing the wave during football games,” said Daniel Fessler, an evolutionary anthropologist at University of California, Los Angeles.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan says he does not want his son AbRam to be in the ‘circus of public life’ that he is a part of.

Shah Rukh and Gauri’s youngest child AbRam was born through surrogacy in May last year.

“I am not overtly happy talking about him. He is my baby and nobody else’s. You can come home and see him if I allow you to come in my house,” Shah Rukh told PTI in an exclusive interview here.

Women are more likely to use cellphones for texting or emails to build relationships and have deeper conversations, while men prefer using their devices for entertainment purposes and accessing social networking sites, a new US study has found.

Women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones and men college students spend nearly eight, with excessive use posing potential risks for academic performance, researchers from Baylor University said.

DMK Chief M Karunanidhi today took exception to the Human Resource Development Ministry’s plan to celebrate Teacher’s Day as ‘Guru Utsav’ and alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to downgrade Tamil language and society by such a move.

“This morning I read a newspaper report that the Central Government has issued a circular to celebrate Teacher’s Day (September 5) as Guru Utsav hereafter. We have been celebrating Teacher’s Day for several years.

This is an apt example of hatching a conspiracy to downgrade Tamil language and those who made sacrifices for it’s welfare”, he said.

Britain’s Prince Harry is set for a 10 million pound gift on his 30th birthday next month as his share of mother Princess Diana’s inheritance.

When Diana, Princess of Wales, died in Paris in 1997, her will stipulated that a share of her fortune should go to her two sons when they each turned 25. The executors, however, later decided, to change the age to 30.

For the past five years, Harry has been able to access the interest on his mother’s fortune but he will be able to obtain his full entitlement only on his birthday on September 15, ‘The Sunday Times’ said.

Ministers of Syria’s newly-formed government were sworn in Sunday before President Bashar al-Assad, media reported.

Last week, Assad issued a decree to form a new government under incumbent Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, keeping 19 ministers of major ministries, including Defence Minister Fahed Jassem, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and Interior Minister Mohammad Sha’ar, and changing 15.

An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted parts of northwest Pakistan Sunday, Xinhua reported.

More details about any loss of life or damage to property were not immediately available.

(IANS)

The Congress in Telangana received a setback Sunday when its one of the legislators quit the party and announced his decision to join the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Koram Kanakaiah, a member of legislative assembly representing Yellandu in Khammam district, resigned from the main opposition party. He will be joining the TRS Monday.

Kanakaiah, who was elected from Yellandu in the elections in held in April, had called on Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao two days ago.

The Ranchi police today raided the house of national shooter Tara Sahdev’s husband Ranjit Kohli alias Rakibul Hassan. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prabhat Kumar confirmed the report, saying, “Today we have raided Ranjit Kohli’s house and found 36 SIM cards of different companies, 15 mobile phones and a few mobiles boxes with phones inside them, but we want to do a detailed analysis of them.

Noted writer and senior Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader Mridula Sinha, after taking oath as the Governor of Goa, said that she will work to solve the problems of the society and family. She also added that women and the poor will always remain her priority. “I have always been doing something for women, preservation of the family and the poor people and will continue to do so with the cooperation of Goa Chief Minister because I think that the problems of the family, and the society should be solved first, although I know that Goa is not a problematic state,” said Sinha.

It has almost been a fortnight with no major rainfall reported in Himachal Pradesh and similar conditions would continue the next three days, a weather official said here Sunday.

Precipitation occurred at some places since Saturday, but there was no appreciable change in the minimum and maximum temperatures, the official told IANS.

The weather bureau said the towns of Shimla, Narkanda, Theog, Rohru and Nahan recorded mild rain.

Get pumped up to wear shades of pink for the fall season as Hollywood celebrities like Emma Stone and Jamie Chung have been proudly flaunting pink pouts.

Here’s a list of celebrities who wore rose lip colours best at different events, reports huffingtonpost.com:

* Emma Stone: The “Birdman” actress looked stunning with a fresh bob haircut, which frames her round face perfectly. Eggplant eyeshadow, black mascara and magenta-coloured lip balm.

Britney Spears’ ex-boyfriend David Lucado hasbeen banned from contacting her after his cheating scandal video surfaced, it has been revealed.

However, Lucado was desperate to have at least one last conversation with the 32-year-old singer after the split was announced, but her team, led by her father Jamie Spears, has prohibited him from contacting her, TMZ.com reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here Sunday on the second leg of his five-day visit to Japan.

Modi reached the Japanese capital after a busy day in Kyoto where he visited two ancient Buddhist temples and sought Japan’s help to combat sickle cell disease, prevalent in tribal regions of India.

(IANS)

Chinese authorities have ruled out open nominations for elections to choose Hong Kong’s leader and now two to three candidates will be nominated by a “broadly representative” committee, BBC reported Sunday.

The decision, expected to limit the selection of candidates to pro-Beijing figures, has prompted the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement to launch a sit-in in the city’s central business district in protest.

The election for Hong Kong’s chief executive is due in 2017 and will be the first time the holder of the post is directly chosen by voters.

A forum of several central trade unions will Tuesday launch a Caravan Campaign in West Bengal pressing for the ratification of ILO conventions relating to right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Announcing the campaign, the West Bengal Trade Unions Joint Action Forum Sunday said the non-ratification of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention nos. 87 and 98 has been jeopardising the rights of workers across the country.

Apple is reportedly planning to mark its foray into the wearables market with multiple models, priced differently.

According to The Verge, executives have discussed offering a model for as much as 400 dollars, more than its competing companies, LG and Samsung, who have priced their Android Wear-powered models for 199.99 dollars and 229 dollars respectively.

A report by Wall Street Journal published in June this year suggests that the iPhone-maker may list varying prices for its wearables by offering models with different size screens.

US President Barack Obama says that social media allows people to see how messy the world is.

Speaking at a Democratic Party fund-raiser, the president tried to reassure people that the world is a lot safer than it was 20 years ago and it is simply digital expansionism that has made people to think otherwise, CNET reports

Obama said the world has always been messy, but people have started noticing only now because of social media and their capacity to see in intimate detail the hardships that people are going through.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is down with fever and says that he had to cancel the shooting due to health reasons.

Currently, the eighth season of “Kaun Banega Crorepati” and Shoojit Sircar’s “Piku” are keeping the 71-year-old busy.

“DAMN!! Just discovered… Down with fever!! (sic),” he tweeted Saturday night.

“Still down! Shoot cancelled! Not happy about that! But shall persevere and be up for it by the morrow … Resting,” he posted on Twitter Sunday.

He also thanked his fans for sending good wishes for his recovery.

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Dia remembers her ‘Kabaddi’ days