Month: August 2014

Basketball player Dwyane Wade and model-turned-actress Gabrielle Union got married in a moated castle in Miami.

The two wed Saturday at the Chateau Artisan and the bride wore a custom-made Dennis Basso gown from Kleinfeld Bridal.

Celebrities in attendance included Miami Heat player Chris Bosh and his wife Adrienne, filmmaker Will Packer, Portland Trail Blazers player Dorell Wright and his wife Mia, Survivor alum Corinne Kaplan, actor Kevin Hart, reality star Jonathan Cheban, and singer John Legend, who performed, reports usmagazine.com.

The revived Nalanda University, an ancient international centre for learning in Bihar which has attracted over 1,000 applications from around the world, will begin its first academic session Sep 1 with 15 students, including five women, and 10 faculty members, its vice chancellor said.

“We are ready to start the academic session of Nalanda University Monday,” Vice Chancellor Gopa Sabhrawal told IANS.

Iraqi security forces Sunday broke through to the town of Amerli which had remained under siege for more than two months by the Islamic State (IS) Sunni extremist organisation, security sources said.

“The security forces managed to break the siege of Amerli as well as several nearby villages,” military spokesman Qasim Atta told reporters without elaborating further.

The IS militants escaped en masse as Iraqi troops and volunteers advanced towards Amerli, Atta said.

Two people were killed in Manipur Sunday in police firing during a protest against the imposition of a prohibitory order under Section 144 CrPc, banning any gathering of four or more people, police said here.

At least 10 people were also injured in the incident in Ukhrul town, 80 km north of capital city Imphal.
(IANS)

A prominent human rights activist in Bahrain has been arrested on charges of insulting the country’s ruler and assaulting police officers, a media reports said Sunday.

Maryam al-Khawaja, the co-director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, was arrested Saturday at the Bahrain International Airport, Al Jazeera reported.

Daughter of Shia activist Abdulhadi Abdulla Hubail al-Khawaja, who has been in custody in Bahrain since 2011, Maryam was planning to visit her father when she was detained at the airport.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine may not have much effect on tourists coming from those countries, union Tourism Minister Shripad Yesso Naik said here Sunday.

Naik was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of new Goa Governor Mridula Sinha.

Asked if the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia would stem the flow of tourists from the region, Naik said: “I don’t think it will affect much.”

A suicide car bomb explosion rocked a military camp in Shabwa province of southeastern Yemen Sunday afternoon, leaving six soldiers dead and two others injured, a Yemeni security official said.

“A suicide bomb explosion with a booby-trapped car targeted a camp of the armed forces in Gul-Raida region of Shabwa province, killing six soldiers and injuring two others,” the security official said on condition of anonymity.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a map of ‘historic Benares’ to Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa during his meeting here on Sunday.

MEA official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said the signing of Kyoto-Varanasi partnership agreement was the first step towards the ties between the two sides and added the pact will further move ahead.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader MJ Akbar on Sunday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan as ‘transformational’ that will result in substantial flow of investments from that country.

“This is a transformational visit. This is not simply business as usual where a leader of India goes and visits another country on the diplomatic circuit. This visit is going to add a huge new dimension. A dimension not simply of good relations but a dimension of enormous warmth,” Akbar said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Sunday said the new sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran in some cases violate the agreement reached last year between the Islamic republic and the world powers during the Geneva nuclear talks.

“The measure taken by the US is unconstructive and in contrast with the spirit of the Geneva agreement,” Press TV quoted Zarif as saying during a press conference in Tehran.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Sunday said though the county faces shortfall of medical experts, they can still serve patients in a better way. He urged doctors to find ways to decrease the death rate.

He said India is constantly keeping pace with the medical advancement but it faces a deficit of medical experts.

“The deficit of specialist medical practitioners has resulted in patients remaining deprived of treatment,” Vardhan said at the fifth annual conference of Society of Cardiac Anesthesiology here.

Joan Rivers has said she has no sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, declaring they ‘deserve to be dead’. Rivers, 81-year-old comedian the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants launched a furious rant outside a Los Angeles airport, saying that the Palestinians who do not leave their homes are ‘idiots’ and that ‘at least the ones that were killed were the ones with very low IQs’. She then said the thought the nearly 2,000 Palestinian who have died on the Gaza strip since Israel launched military operations in the area a month ago ‘deserved it’.

A man, who sought separation from his wife alleging that she was aggressive and autocratic with an insatiable appetite for sex, was granted divorce by a family court here.

“Due to respondent’s (wife’s) non-appearance before the court, the petitioner’s (husband’s) evidence remains unchallenged on record. Hence this court has no option but to accept his evidence as it is and he is entitled to a decree of divorce as prayed,” Principal Judge of family court, Laxmi Rao ruled in a recent order.

A new study has revealed that the hypertension self-management program can help reduce blood pressure for high-risk patients.

It was found that among patients with hypertension at high risk of cardiovascular disease, a program that consisted of patients measuring their blood pressure and adjusting their antihypertensive medication accordingly resulted in lower systolic blood pressure at 12 months compared to patients who received usual care.

A new study has suggested that preadolescent kids who play violent video games for a longer period of time are likelier to get depressed.

The study conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) showed that kids who played violent video games for more than two hours a day showed significantly more depressive symptoms.

A new study has suggested that overweight or obese teenagers are likelier to become regular smokers as compared to average weight teens.

The study based on based on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health showed a correlation between high body mass index (BMI( and cigarette smoking in young adulthood.

Lead author H. Isabella Lanza, Ph.D., research associate with the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs in Los Angeles, said that young people smoked cigarettes for a variety of reasons.

It has been recently claimed that a Mexican woman named Leandra Becerra Lumbreras has become the ‘oldest ever human’ at the age of 127.

Her family said that the secret to her long life were lots of sleep, keeping active, singing to relatives, eating sweets and chocolates; in fact she has requested beans with tortillas to celebrate her birthday on August 31, the Mirror reported.

Criticizing the new sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has reportedly termed it an “ugly move” that will deepen distrust between the two countries.

Speaking at a news conference broadcast on state TV, Rouhani said that they are in conflict with the spirit of the ongoing talks but added that Iran will continue nuclear talks with the P5+1 countries to reach a final agreement on its nuclear programme, reported the BBC.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Meenakshi Lekhi said today that India’s GDP figures reaching its highest figure of 5.7 percent in the first quarter of the financial year 2014-15, reflected the NDA government’s focus on laying a strong foundation for the Indian economy.

At least two persons were killed and about 450 others injured overnight when police baton- charged hundreds of anti-government protesters led by Imran Khan and Tahir-ul-Qadri who marched towards Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s residence here demanding his resignation.

The clashes started after Tehrik-e-Insaf chairman Khan and Awami Tehrik chief Qadri yesterday ordered their hundreds of supporters to shift the protest venue in the front of the residence of Prime Minister Sharif to force him to quit.

Taking credit for the uptick in domestic economy, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the 5.7 per cent growth in the first quarter vindicates UPA government’s projection that revival would take place in the beginning of 2014-15 as a result of measures taken in the previous fiscal.

“The GDP data for the first quarter of 2014-15 was released yesterday and the Congress party and I are naturally very pleased.

Ambati Rayudu slammed an unbeaten 64 as India relied on an all-round display to thrash England by six wickets in the third cricket one-dayer and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five-match series here today.

Rayudu, who was drafted in place of an injured Rohit Sharma, stitched 87 runs with Suresh Raina (42) from 14.5 overs for the fourth wicket as India chased down the modest target of 228 with 42 balls to spare.

On the second day of his Japan tour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited two prominent ancient Buddhist temples here – Toji and Kinkakuji – offering prayers and mingling with the common people and tourists.

The dress-conscious Modi was attired in all-white kurta pyjama, sleeveless jacket and white sandals when he visited the temples, apparently to send out a message of solemnness of the occasion.

In Kinkakuji, the Prime Minister mingled with tourists and visitors, shook hands, pulled ears of a child and posed for photographs with groups of people.

Five persons were charred to death and six injured when an overloaded bus from West Bengal, carrying 80 pilgrims, caught fire after a gas cylinder exploded on board at Tiruppullani near here, police said.

The bus was gutted in the mishap that occurred late last night when the pilgrims were en route to Kanyakumari after visiting Tirupati and Rameswaram.

On the back of global downward trend in international prices of cooking gas, the price of non-subsidized cooking gas has been cut by Rs 19 per cylinder for domestic use and Rs 32.50 per cylinder for commercial use.

A 14.2kg non-subsidized LPG cylinder will cost Rs 901 in Delhi from Sunday compared with Rs 920 currently.

A subsidized cylinder costs Rs 414 in Delhi but consumers can buy only 12 such refills in a year. Beyond that, they will have to buy non-subsidized cylinders at double the rate.