Month: September 2014

Putting up an impressive show, five Indian body builders bagged a bronze medal each in the 48th Asia Bodybuilding Championship and Physique Sports Competition in Macau.

Indian Railways’ Bobby Singh and Roop Raju bagged bronze medals in the 75kg and 60kg category respectively. Anoop Raju, Husain Anas and Mustafa Ahmed also bagged bronze medals.

“All the hard work and dedication have paid off with this win. I hope that next time I can grab us a Gold medal,” said an elated Bobby Singh.

China today reacted guardedly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks of “expansionist” tendency among some countries, saying it is not clear what was he referring to and recalled his earlier comments that India and China are strategic partners.

“We have noted relevant information about Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Japan. You just mentioned comments made by him I don’t know what is he referring to,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a media briefing here when asked about Modi’s remarks made during his ongoing visit to Japan.

Samajwadi Party today demanded the Election Commission to impose a ban on BJP MP Yogi Adityanath from campaigning of bypolls to 11 Assembly and one Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, slated for September 13 next, for his alleged remarks on “love jihad”.

“The party has already written a letter to the commission to take action against Adityanath trying to incite communal passion by raising the issue of love jihad again and now it demands that he should be banned from campaigning,” SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary here said.

State-run United Bank of India today became the first lender to declare debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines and its promoter Vijay Mallya as wilful defaulters.

“We have declared Vijay Mallya and three other directors of Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters,” United Bank of India Executive Director Deepak Narang told PTI.

The Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) of the bank has declared directors Ravi Nedungadi, Anil Kumar Ganguly and Subash Gupte as wilful defaulters.

Former MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy alias Jagga Reddy denied the allegations of having paid money to get BJP ticket for the Medak Lok Sabha by-elections.

Guardians of the Galaxy’ has topped the charts with 16.3 million dollars earning over the weekend.

The Marvel film ranked first in the office reports followed by ‘November Man’ and ‘As Above, So Below’ which made 7.7 million dollars and 8.3 million dollars respectively, Fox News reported.

‘Ghostbusters’, which has been re-released on the 30th anniversary of the paranormal classic, is expected to fetch 1.6 million dollars over the weekend. (ANI)

The 4000-year-old mystery about how the Stonehenge was built has been solved.

The mystery has been solved thanks to the garden hose, which was too short to reach the southwest side, which made the ground dry and revealed parched grass that showed the location of missing stones which had once filled out the circle, News.com.au reported.

The caretakers noticed the dried out areas, thought to be ” stone holes”, which has answered the great mystery about where missing stones were originally placed.

Princess Diana’s treasured and iconic bridal gown will finally come back home after a global tour.

As per the will of the late Princess of Wales, her pearls encrusted silk wedding dress with a 25ft train and puffed sleeves, was to be given to her sons, Princes William and Harry, along with her other personal items after her tragic death in 1997, the Daily Express reported.

The dress had been able to raise money for the Diana’s Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, but it is said that the princes had been unhappy about the “commercialisation” of their mother’s belongings.

Automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motor India Friday reported a fall of 8 percent in its sales for August at 48,111 units from 52,319 units in the corresponding month of last year.

However, the company said its domestic sales during the month under review grew by 19.2 percent and stood at 33,750 units – up from 28,311 units sold in the corresponding month of 2013.

The company’s exports last month fell by 40.2 percent at 14,361 units – down from 24,008 units shipped out during the corresponding month of last year.

India’s largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki Monday reported a healthy sales growth of 26.9 percent in total sales, including exports, for August at 110,776 units.

The company sold 87,323 units in August 2013.

The company’s domestic sales zoomed by 29.3 percent to 98,304 units during the month under review as compared to 76,018 units sold in the corresponding month of last year.

Maruti Suzuki exported 12,472 units last month, which was an increase of 10.3 percent from 11,305 units sold overseas during the corresponding month of 2013.

The condition known as Resistant Hyper-tension increases stroke risk by 35 percent in women and 20 percent in elderly patients, according to new research.

“Patients with hyper-tension that does not respond to conventional drug treatments, called resistant hyper-tension, are at a higher risk of cardio-vascular morbidity and mortality,” Dr Kuo-Yang Wang from Taiwan told the gathering Sunday at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.

Micromax has overtaken Apple and reached the second position in the tablet market in India in the second quarter with 14 percent market-share, data released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) said Monday.

“Strong performance in Q2 2014 allowed Micromax to tip Apple to the second spot,” an IDC statement here said.

Samsung with 19 percent market-share occupied the top position in the Indian tablet market. It was followed by Micromax (14 percent) and Apple (9 percent), the data showed.

Fat children are at a greater risk of hyper-tension (high blood pressure) — generally assumed to be an adult condition that causes health problems, such as heart diseases.

“We found that obese boys had a nearly six-fold increased risk of hyper-tension compared to normal weighing boys. In obese girls the risk was more than four times greater than their normal weight counterparts,” said professor Peter Schwandt from the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in Germany.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today deplored the “expansionist” tendency among some countries which “encroach” upon seas of others, in oblique comments against China which is having a maritime dispute with Japan.

“The whole world accepts that the 21st century will belong to Asia. But I have a question.

How should the 21st century be? We have to give an answer to this. It will depend on how deep and progressive our relationship (between India and Japan) is,” he said addressing business leaders of India and Japan here.

About one million children per year develop tuberculosis (TB) worldwide, but unfortunately detecting TB in children has been a challenge as the symptoms are often non-specific and similar to those of common paediatric illnesses, including pneumonia and malnutrition.

This is now set to change as researchers have developed a new blood test that provides a fast and accurate tool to diagnose tuberculosis in children.

The newly developed test (TAM-TB assay) is the first reliable immuno-diagnostic assay to detect active tuberculosis in children, the researchers said.

Country’s second largest airline by market share, SpiceJet today launched yet another limited period special fare scheme, ‘Early Bird’, offering customers ticket prices as low as Rs 499 on its domestic network.

The bookings for this three-day offer commences from today with a travel validity period between January 16 and October 24 next year, SpiceJet said in a release here.

A special court today asked the CBI to clarify whether “rule of law” was followed in allocation of coal blocks to top industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco.

During the hearing on the closure report filed by the CBI in its FIR lodged against Birla, former coal secretary P C Parakh and others, the court asked the agency whether there was an act of “omission or commission” in the allocation of blocks to Hindalco.

“You (CBI) have to clarify three things. First, whether the rule of law was followed or not.

In a suspected case of dishonour killing, a man along with his servant allegedly killed a 30-year-old man, who was involved in a relationship with his sister, and dumped his body in Vasai creek here.

Ganesh (30), hailing from Bihar, reportedly had an affair with the sister of Rajesh Koli in Thane’s Bhayander township.

Koli had warned Ganesh earlier to discontinue the affair but in vain, Bhayander police station inspector Bhaskar Pukle said.

Protesters Monday took over the Pakistan Television (PTV) network office here, as a result of which transmission has disrupted in Islamabad.

The protesters, who seemed to have faced no security obstacles, also barged into PTV’s control room, Dawn online reported.

However, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan said PTI protesters had not broken into the PTV building, and added that if PTI protesters were discovered inside, they would be kicked out from the party.

On day one of a new month Monday, actress Alia Bhatt began the shooting for her new film “Shaandaar” with Shahid Kapoor.

“Today is day 1 of #Shaandaar!!! Wish me luckkkkkk 😀 start of a new beautiful journey!!! Wohooooo @shahidkapoor @FuhSePhantom @karanjohar,” the 21-year-old actress tweeted Monday.

The film is being directed by Vikas Bahl of “Queen” fame, and it’s a co-production between Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Phantom Films.

Alia was recently in news for taking a potshot at herself via an entertaining online video titled “Alia Bhatt – Genius of the Year”.

—IANS

Want to be happy and productive at work? Keep a plant next to your computer.

“Green” offices with plants make staff happier and more productive than “lean” designs stripped of greenery, new research shows.

It found that enriching a “lean” office with plants could increase productivity by 15 percent.

“Investing in landscaping the office with plants will pay off through an increase in office workers’ quality of life and productivity,” said Marlon Nieuwenhuis from Cardiff University’s school of psychology.

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Monday hit a record high of 26,854.08 points, surpassing its previous high of 26,674.38 points of Aug 28.

All the sectors were trading in green and the rally was led by capital goods, consumer durables, banking, metal and auto.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also hit record high and crossed 8,000-mark and was trading at 59.55 points or 0.75 percent up at 8,013.90 points.

Prince Harry will become 10m pounds richer when he turns 30 on September 15, as he would receive the amount from his late mother, Princess Diana’s inheritance.

According to the will of the Princess of Wales, who died in Paris in 1997, a share of her fortune was supposed to go to her sons William and Harry when they turned 25, but the executors had later changed the age to 30, the Daily Express reported.

Top American senators have urged the United States to provide arms and ammunition to Ukrainian forces fighting pro-Russian separatists along the eastern border of the country.

Head of the Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez said that Russian President Vladimir Putin must face consequences of his actions.

Senator John McCain has called Russia’s activities an act of ‘invasion’, reported the BBC.

Russian President had earlier called for discussions on the matter of instability in eastern Ukraine.

A new study has revealed that specific nutritious foods and dietary patterns can help in preventing and controlling type 2 diabetes.

Foods such as oat cereal, yogurt and dairy products, green leafy vegetables, grapes, apples, blueberries and walnuts were associated with reduced diabetes risk. Drinking coffee and even decaffeinated coffee were also associated with lower type 2 diabetes risk.