Month: September 2014

India and the United States have indicated that the two nations can collaborate with each other to tackle the deadly Ebola virus from spreading its tentacles further, and on a host of other diseases like cancer, tuberculosis malaria and dengue

A joint editorial bylined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S President Barack Obama which appears in the Washington Post reads, “Our health collaboration will help us tackle the toughest of challenges, whether combating the spread of Ebola, researching cancer cures or conquering diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and dengue.”

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam’s dream to see smiles on billion faces kept him motivated throughout his life.

“For the last one decade when I became President and after it, I had one dream and that was when can I in my lifetime see smile on a billion faces,” he told a boy who asked him what kept him motivated all the time.

“Smile on faces drives me (to do things in life),” he said.

When another student pursuing his studies in class tenth stood up to ask him a question, Kalam asked him which subjects he was interested to take after class tenth.

An Egyptian court today sentenced 63 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to 15 years in prison and five others to ten years for their involvement in the “Azbakeya Riots” case.

The defendants were charged with murder, attempted murder, sabotaging public and private properties, attacking people and mobilising for the purpose of disrupting the implementation of laws and regulations.

The court has also ordered all the 68 convicts to be placed under security supervision for five years after the prison term.

At least 13 people were killed and 29 wounded Tuesday in separate car bomb attacks targeting commercial areas of Shia provinces in central and southern Iraq, police sources said.

Eight people were killed and some 10 wounded when a car bomb detonated in the eastern part of the holy Shia city of Karbala, 110 km south of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Eight core industries such as coal, electricity, crude oil, cement and steel, grew at 5.8 percent in August this year, compared to 4.7 percent during the corresponding month of last year, official data showed Tuesday.

The index of eight core industries with a combined weightage of 37.90 percent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2004-05 stood at 165.1 in the month under review, the ministry of commerce and industry said in a statement.

One in five girls in India has experienced physical violence since 15 years of age, according to a report released by UNICEF here Tuesday.

The figure translates into 12 million girls, said the report, which used data from the National Family Health Survey.

It said that 4.5 percent of girls aged between 15 and 19 years have experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of forced sexual acts and in 77 percent of such cases, the perpetrator of sexual violence is the husband or partner.

Given that inflation is expected to level at around 7 percent by 2016, the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy going ahead will be contingent on relevant data coming in, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said Tuesday after announcing the central bank’s fourth bi-monthly policy review.

“Given the modelling of inflation, which says the expected level by 2016 is 7 percent, the risks are still to the upside,” Rajan told reporters here.

Kurdish fighters, known as the Peshmerga, launched an offensive against three positions of the Islamic State (IS) jihadi group in northern Iraq Tuesday and retook lost territory, sources told Spanish news agency Efe.

Peshmerga spokesman Helgurd Hikmet said that the Kurds made progress in the town of Rabia near the Iraqi-Syrian border where they regained control of several villages, including Zumar on the outskirts of of Mosul, and Daquq, south of Kirkuk city.

The Peshmerga also regained control of more than 30 positions that were in the hands of the IS extremists, Hikmet said.

RBI will issue Rs 5 coins to commemorate the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

“Issue of Rs 5 coins to commemorate the occasion of “125th Birth Anniversary of Maulana Abul kalam Azad. The government of India has minted the coins which the Reserve Bank of India will shortly put into circulation,” RBI said in a release.

RBI said these coins are legal tender as provided in The Coinage Act 2011.

The existing coins in this denomination shall also continue to be legal tender, it added.

After tickling the funny bone of audiences with stand-up comedy shows, Krushna Abhishek, Bharti Singh, Shakeel Siddiqui and Sudesh Lehri have teamed up again, but this time they will entertain their fans through an innovative show titled “Comedy Classes”.

Produced by Optimystix, the sitcom going on air Oct 7 on Life OK, is about an acting school called – Ache Din Institute. One can look forward to some funny moments with Krushna as acting guru and Bharti as a dance instructor, who has her own moves like BhartiNatyam.

Sports goods manufacturer Puma will supply the Indian Super League (ISL) with match balls for the Oct 12-Dec 20 football extravaganza.

The ball, named Puma evoPower 1 Statement Football, uses dual outer materials. The first one provides grip for more swerve in dead ball situations while the other reintroduces dimple technology for improved aerodynamics.

Puma will also provide balls for warm-up and training sessions.

Sixty-seven people have been killed in the floods in Assam’s Brahmaputra Valley even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju are expected to visit the flood-affected areas of Assam and Meghalaya Wednesday.

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), over four lakh people continue to be affected by floods in at least five districts of Assam.

Indian golfers Abhinav Lohan, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja and Bangladeshi Mohammed Zamal Hossain Mollah ended day one of the PGTI Eagleburg Masters, the fourth Super Series event of the season, as the joint leaders at six-under-66, at the Eagleton course here Tuesday.

The leading quartet were two shots ahead of a chasing pack of seven golfers including local favourites Chikkarangappa and Khalin Joshi as well as reigning Rolex Rankings champion Rashid Khan.

Indian grapplers returned empty handed Tuesday at the Asian Games as Krishankant Yadav lost his men’s greco-roman (71 kg) category bronze medal match while two compatriots — Ravinder Singh and Harpreet Singh — also bowed out of competition at the Dowon Gymnasium here.

Yadav lost 0-3 to Iran’s Saeid Abdvali on technical points — the loser without points — after conceding a 0-4 lead in the first period and losing the second period 0-2.

Earlier, he lost 0-4 to South Korea’s Jihyun Jung in the quarter-finals. Yadav was beaten on the basis of greater superiority of his opponent.

Libyan Islamist armed alliance Libya Dawn Tuesday rejected the UN-brokered reconciliation talks with the Libyan parliament, sticking to a “military solution” to the current crisis in Libya.

According to a statement issued by its information office, Libya Dawn said it will not stop its military operations until all “counter-revolutionaries” are hunted down and accused the internationally recognised parliament, now exiled in the eastern town of Tobruk, of masterminding airstrikes against the Libyan people, Xinhua reported.

Several people were killed in Popasnaya, in eastern Ukraine, in heavy shelling by pro-Russian separatists, Gennady Moskal, the Kiev-appointed governor for the region said Tuesday.

“There are dead and wounded,” the governor posted on his official website, noting that multiple rocket launchers were used in the attack.

However, the head of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Lugansk (RPL), Alexei Kariakin, denied Moskal’s allegations, saying that the rebel militias respected the truce agreed a month ago between the two sides.

At least 233 people have died in Syria since the airstrikes launched by the US-led international coalition against Islamic State (IS) positions, the manager of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abderrahman, told Spanish news agency Efe Tuesday.

Abderrahman said during a phone conversation that at least 211 jihadis had died since Sep 23 when the coalition started its bombardments in Syria.

The activist added that this figure includes at least 60 members of the Nusra Front, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

Twenty-two civilians have also been killed by the coalition.

Diesel price is likely to be cut by about Re 1 per litre, the first reduction in rates in over five years, while petrol price may be slashed by around 55 paise after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from the US.

Though today is the scheduled fortnightly review of petrol and diesel rates, an announcement will be made only after Modi returns from his US trip tomorrow evening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama Tuesday said it was time to set a new agenda that realises benefits for their citizens and asserted that the two countries would deepen their relationship.

In a joint op-ed piece published on the website of Washington Post, Modi and Obama said the true potential of the bilateral relationship was yet to be fully realised.

They said India and the US would expand their collaboration in trade, investment and technology that harmonises with New Delhi’s ambitious development agenda and sustains US as the global engine of growth.

India’s Latika Bhandari and Jasvant lost their taekwondo quarterfinal bouts at the 17th Asian Games here Tuesday.

Latika went down 1-13 to South Korean Jeongyeon Yoon in the quarterfinal of women’s 53kg. Latika was no match for her superior South Korean opponent at the Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium.

Jeongyeon won the first round 3-0 and opened up a 4-0 lead after the second. She came down heavily on Latika in the third and the final round winning it 9-1.

A 25-year-old man from Maharashtra was arrested for posing as a policeman and stealing Rs.3,000 from the complainant on the pretext of searching him in Mapusa, a town located 10 km north of Panaji.

Police said that Vivek Bobhate, from Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra, had also used the modus operandi to con several others in Goa.

“He used to pose as a policeman and ‘detain’ people on the pretext of searching them in connection with a crime. He would then steal money from their wallets or from their person,” an official attached to the Mapusa police station said Tuesday.

The national capital experienced a warm and sunny Tuesday with the maximum temperature recorded three degrees above the season’s average at 37.2 degrees Celsius. Similar weather is likely Wednesday, the Met office said.

“The sky will remain clear tomorrow (Wednesday) and the day would be warm,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 36 and 24 degrees Celsius respectively.

After Jelly Bean, KitKat and an Ice Cream Sandwich , Google’s next operating system is likely to be called Android Lollipop, a report said.

Google celebrated its 16th birthday by releasing an image with a cake full of lollies and a message that said, “Why do we put candles on cakes?”

The tech giant’s next operating system has simply been codenamed Android L as of now. However, with the company’s android names following the alphabet, lollipop might replace KitKat in the next version, reported The Daily Star.

In one of the largest automobile repair and inspection exercises, passenger car major Maruti Suzuki Tuesday said that it has recalled 69,555 diesel Dzire, Swift and Ritz models, stating that it will proactively inspect and repair a wiring harness.

“Maruti Suzuki dealers will contact owners of all the affected vehicles. The dealer workshop technicians will inspect the wiring harness fitment condition and carry out the necessary repairs, free of cost,” the company said in a statement.

According to the company, the problem was noticed based on its feedback monitoring and internal checks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed to his bilateral summit with President Barack Obama Tuesday after paying homage at three memorials symbolising peace, equality and unity dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.

Modi, wearing a light orange kurta and a white Nehru jacket, paid floral tributes at the statue of Mahatama Gandhi, apostle of non-violence and father of the Indian nation, in front of the Indian embassy in Washington.