Month: January 2015

I may never play guitar again: Bono

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U2 frontman Bono says he fears that he may never play guitar again following a bike accident last November.

Bono, 54, who broke his arm in six places and fractured his eye socket, hand and shoulder, made the comment on the band’s website.

In the letter to his fans, he said he was unable to move around physically and would have to “concentrate hard” to be fit for U2’s next tour.

At the time, the hospital where Bono was being treated said he had been involved in “a high-energy bicycle accident when he attempted to avoid another rider”.

Snooki’s Instagram account hacked

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Reality TV star Snooki has become the victim of a hack on her Instagram account.

Earlier this week, several of the 27-year-old TV personality’s images were deleted and replaced with messages in Arabic and the image of a person in a head scarf.

“We are Arabic hackers, but that doesn’t mean all of the Arabic people are bad,” one of the now-deleted posts read.

The mother of two wasn’t pleased with the intrusion and quickly took to Twitter to let her fans know that any additional accounts were fake.

Taylor Swift brings fans to tears with surprise gifts

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Taylor Swift’s hand delivered some surprise gifts to her fans.

The 25-year-old singer uploaded a video, which showed her in the process of wrapping a whole heap of gifts for some of the fans who had been most supportive and vocal on social media throughout the year, reported Us magazine.

The video shows how fans received the boxes, and one lucky supporter even got a visit from Swift herself, when she decided she wanted to see her fan’s little boy, and give him a mini-motorized car.

Kanye West, Paul Mccartney team up for new song

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Rapper Kanye West and Beatles legend Paul McCartney’s collaboration has been released online.

Titled “Only One”, it features background vocals and piano accompaniment by the former Fab Four, reported Ace Showbiz.

“Hello, my only one. Remember who you are. No, you’re not perfect but you’re not your mistakes,” the rapper delivers the lyrics.

“I talked to God about you. He said he sent you an angel. And look at all that he gave you,” West, 37, sings from the perspective of his mother Donda, who died from complications during surgery in November 2007.

Age is just a number: Judi Dench

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Judi Dench has revealed she is not ready to retire as she feels age is just a number.

The legendary actor stars in a magical adaptation of ‘Esio Trot’ along side fellow Oscar-winning actor Dustin Hoffman, reported Daily Mirror.

“Age is just a number, you’re as old as you feel. I remember I got really upset when I was 40 but, other than that, it’s never bothered me – although it drives me absolutely spare when people ask me if I am going to retire.

McCullum falls as New Zealand crash against Sri Lanka

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Brendon McCullum’s return to the scene of his greatest triumph was short-lived today with a second-ball duck as New Zealand staggered to 192-7 at tea on the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka took a grip on the match with five wickets in the middle session after winning a crucial toss and making New Zealand bat first on a green wicket and with a howling southerly wind at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.

BMC, NDFC join hands to open film cultural centre in Mumbai

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The city would soon have a film cultural centre to promote quality cinema and showcase independent films for adults and children.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) have collaborated in the project located at Bandra in suburban Mumbai.

The Film Cultural Centre will be equipped with an exhibition hall, a 100 seater Digital Cinema, a reading and research library, a bookshop, and a cafeteria.

Water level at 95.58 ft

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The water level in the Mettur reservoir

this morning stood at 95.58 feet against the full level of 120 feet.

Inflow was 1003 cusecs while outflow 7400 cusecs, PWD officials said.

AirAsia QZ8501: Search teams ‘find two large objects’

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Two large metal objects have been found in the search for the AirAsia airliner in the Java Sea, Indonesian officials said today, even as continuing bad weather held back efforts to hunt for the plane’s data recorders.

The objects were found at the bottom of the sea near Pangkalan Bun, head of Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency, Bambang Soelistyo, said.

Soelistyo told reporters that the two objects represent the main part of the Airbus A320 that lost contact with air-traffic control on Sunday morning with 162 people on board. Oil spills have also been detected in the area.

New artificial knee ligament graft in offing

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Researchers are developing a new synthetic knee ligament graft that can integrate with the native bone, promote growth of new ligament tissue and stabilise the knee.

Connecting the femur to the tibia, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is one of the most devastating injuries in sports.

Not only is the ACL inelastic and prone to popping, it is incapable of healing itself, causing surgeons to rely on autografts for reconstruction.

Most common is the bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB) graft, in which the surgeon removes part of the patellar tendon to replace the damaged ACL.

Text reminders increase flu vaccination rates in kids

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Text message reminders may increase the number of children receiving the second dose of influenza vaccine, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Medical Centre studied the impact of text message reminders for the second dose of influenza vaccine required for many young children to protect them against the virus.

The findings showed that sending text message reminders both increased receipt of the second dose of the vaccine by the end of the season as well as brought children in sooner to be vaccinated.

Wealth, power linked to many mental disorders

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Researchers have found that inflated or deflated feelings of self-worth are linked to such afflictions as bipolar disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, anxiety and depression.

“We found that it is important to consider the motivation to pursue power, beliefs about how much power one has attained, pro-social and aggressive strategies for attaining power, and emotions related to attaining power,” said Sheri Johnson, a University of California – Berkeley psychologist and senior author of the study.

Man arrested for murdering friend on New Year eve

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A 26-year-old youth from Sahapur taluka here has been arrested on alleged charges of brutally killing his friend and seriously injuring another on the New Year eve, district rural police said today.

PI ND Salkhe of Sahapur police station told PTI today that accused Anand P Rathod was held last evening for murdering his 24-year-old friend Mangesh N Dongre, after a quarrel during a party to ring in the New Year at joint in Valshej village.

Invasive species can dramatically alter landscapes

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Invasive plant and animal species can cause dramatic and enduring changes to the geography and ecology of landscapes, a new study has found.

Researchers from Purdue University and the University of Kentucky found that invasive species can alter landscapes in myriad ways and with varying degrees of severity.

These changes can be quick, large-scale and “extremely difficult” to reverse, said study author Songlin Fei, a Purdue associate professor of quantitative ecology.

Johnson misses practice, in doubt for Sydney Test

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Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson is uncertain for the fourth and final cricket Test against India due to a hamstring problem which forced him to skip a practice session here today.

According to media reports here, Johnson complained of hamstring soreness and decided not to travel with the team for their first practice at the nets here.

If the bowler, who was slightly off-colour in the drawn third Test, fails to be match-ready, Mitchell Starc or Peter Siddle could be brought in to the side.

Rainy day in Delhi

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Delhiites woke up to another rainy morning with the minimum temperature today settling at seven notches above the season’s average at 13.8 degrees Celsius.

Safdarjung observatory which is considered official figure for Delhi and the centre at Lodhi Road recorded 7 mm rainfall in the past 12 hours till 8.30 AM.

Palam received 5.5 mm rainfall while centres at Ridge and Ayanagar received 8.7 mm and 4.3 mm rainfall respectively.

Foggy conditions were witnessed in several parts of the city as visibility was recorded less than 100 meters at 5.30 AM and improved to 500 meters at 8.30 AM.

Two killed, 10 injured in road accident

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Two women belonging to a family were killed, while 10 others were injured in a collision between an SUV and a truck today morning in Katihar district of Bihar.

Police officials said the accident happened on state highway 27 near Amin Chowk under Pothia police station of the district. The deceased have been identified as Rita Devi (33) and Nitu Devi (35).

Four injured as SUV turns turtle

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Four persons were injured, two of them critically, when the SUV they were traveling turned turtle in Aurangabad district of Bihar yesterday night.

Police officials said the incident happened near Sondehra village under Bhabhua police station of the district when the persons were speeding to catch a train at Mohania station.

Mohania Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Suresh Kumar said their vehicle hit a dump of sand and stone chips along the road, lost its control and rolled over. The villagers extricated the injured persons from the vehicle and took them to a local hospital.

Madan Mitra taken to hospital

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West Bengal minister Madan Mitra, arrested by CBI in Saradha scam came, was taken to a state-run hospital for a check-up this morning.

“Mr Mitra will undergo a regular medical check-up today. There is nothing serious,” hospital sources told PTI today.

It was learnt that doctors of the seven-member medical board, earlier set up to monitor the minister’s health conditions, would also be present during the check-up at SSKM hosiptal.

Sangakkara joins elite 12,000-runs club

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Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara joined an elite group of cricketers today when he became only the fifth to make 12,000 runs in his career.

The prolific 37-year-old left-hander reached the milestone when he knocked Trent Boult square for two in Sri Lanka’s first innings of the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington.

Sangakkara started the two-Test New Zealand series on 11,988 runs and after scoring six and one in the first Test in Christchurch, he was determined to get the final five in Wellington.

Saina disappointed by Padma Award snub

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Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal has been left disappointed after the Sports Ministry decided to reject her application for the prestigious Padma Bhushan award this year, citing norms.

Badminton Association of India (BAI) had recommended Saina’s name for the award to the Sports Ministry in August last year but the ministry picked two-time Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar as it felt he was a more deserving candidate.

Admissions in progress at UoH

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According to Prof. Muzaffar Ali Shahmiri Head of the Dept. of Urdu, University of Hyderabad, admission process has begun in the university for M A, M.Phil, PhD (Urdu) courses. For application forms and eligibility for admission, visit university website uohyd.enet.in. Scholarship facility is available for all courses. Last date to submit application is January 9, 2015. For further details dial 9848956103 or 9951465602.

Siasat news

Seminar on ‘Reality of life which will bring a revolution in your life’ today

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Dr. Baquer Husain Quraishi will address an informative seminar entitled ‘Reality of life which will bring a revolution in your life’, on January 3, from 3 to 5 pm at Siasat office, Abids. The presentation will be based on the Holy Quran, Ahadeeth and Scientific facts. Dr. Baquer Husain Quraishi is the alumni of Osmania Medical College and has done masters in Clinical Pathology from London University. He joined Diplomat American Board in 1996. Earlier he worked in Saudi Arabia as Director Technical Laboratories for several years.

Processions, blood donation camps to mark Milad-un-Nabi (pbuh) celebrations tomorrow

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Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi (pbuh) will be celebrated across the state besides twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, with much gaiety and religious fervour on Sunday, January 4. Milad procession will be taken out by Sunni United Forum of India from historical Makkah Masjid to Moghalpura playground. Earlier another procession will be taken out by Sunni Dawat-e-Islami from Makkah Masjid to Hajj House Nampally.