Month: January 2015

Virat Kohli most popular cricketer on Twitter with 5 mn fans

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After being elevated to India’s Test Captain, Virat Kohli, whose fan-following on Twitter has already surpassed that of Sachin Tendulkar, went on to become the first cricketer to have 5 million followers on the microblogging site.

Kohli (@ImVkohli) now has 5,004,544 followers on Twitter, ahead of Tendulkar who has 4,910,498 followers and MS Dhoni (3,374,509 followers).

In just over three months, Kohli has gained over a million followers goes to underline his rising popularity, Twitter said in a statement.

He had crossed the the 4 million mark in October 2014.

Missing children cases in Delhi increased in 2014

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There has been a 12.11 percent increase in the number of missing children in the national capital in 2014, according to Delhi Police data.

A total of 6,227 cases were registered till Dec 15, 2014, compared to 5,554 cases in the corresponding period of 2013.

Explaining the reason behind rise in the number of missing children, Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi said: “Tracing missing children remains important priority for Delhi Police. In each case of missing child, FIRs (First Information Reports) were registered immediately.”

Body of missing British Indian man found

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An Indian origin man who went missing in the run-up to Christmas was found dead in the basement of a house in Britain’s West Midlands county.

Baljit Singh, 50, from Birmingham, was last seen Dec 23 when he left his home to collect a birthday cake for his son, the Daily Mirror reported Thursday.

A 32-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman were arrested on New Year’s Eve in connection with Singh’s disappearance.

The pair is now being questioned by detectives on the suspicion of his murder after his body was recovered from a basement in Rowley Regis Thursday.

192 cases registered by Telangana ACB in 2014

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Telangana anti-corruption bureau registered 192 cases in the last year against government officials, it said today.

The cases of ‘trap’ (caught while taking bribe) topped the list at 123, followed by 11 disproportionate assets cases.

Among the accused, there were 88 gazetted officers and 149 non-gazetted officers.

BJP playing politics over drugs issue: Amarinder

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Senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh today accused BJP of “politicking” on the issue of drugs menace in Punjab.

He said, the party lacked any will to take any corrective measures which were well within its power and was resorting to “politicking and game of one upmanship with its alliance partner, the Akali Dal, in Punjab”.

Congress’ Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha said that the Shiromani Akali Dal was “equally responsible as it had been patronising the production and trade of the synthetic drugs in Punjab..”

New Asian bank to be operational by year-end

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The Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIDB) is expected to go into operation before the end of 2015, according to China’s ministry of finance.

The ministry said that the founding nations of the bank are expected to complete negotiations over and subscription of the bank’s charter and regulations before June this year, Xinhua reported.

A ministry statement also said that the Maldives has become the latest prospective founding member of the bank after a consensus was reached among the 22 existing members Dec 31.

Nishikori ready for Brisbane battle

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World No.5 Kei Nishikori says his experience of having to fight for everything when placed as a 14-year-old at a tennis training academy in Florida honed the determined streak which has earned him the reputation as one of the game’s fiercest competitors.

Japan’s Nishikori, who stands 178cm in an era in which tall players dominate, incredibly has the best win-loss record in deciding sets of any man in the modern era, having won 78.4 per cent of 88 deciding third or fifth sets in his career, reports news.com.au.

Special courts not Pakistan army’s desire: Gen. Sharif

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Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif Friday said on Twitter that special courts are not the desire of the army, rather the need of extraordinary times.

“Special courts not desire of the Army but need of extraordinary times. Will return to original system when normalcy returns,” Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations, Asim Bajwa, tweeted the army chief’s statement.

The general stressed that the points agreed to at the All Parties Conference should be implemented.

Lakhs hit as train services disrupted in Thane, Mumbai

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Hundreds of thousands of commuters were hit hard in Thane and Mumbai Friday after a disruption in suburban train services in Thane sparked widespread violence, officials said.

Police used batons to check mob violence, while Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other ministers appealed to angry commuters to keep calm. The services were partially restored hours later.

Thousands rushing to work in south Mumbai and other areas were left stranded as the train services were disrupted after an overhead pantograph snapped near the Thakurli railway station in Thane around 6.45 a.m.

Massive fire engulfs hosiery factory in Ludhiana, no casualties reported

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A massive fire broke out in a hosiery factory in Ludhiana yesterday causing heavy losses, but no casualty was reported.

Fifteen fire tenders were rushed to douse the fire which gutted the factory.

The fire quickly spread through the five-storey building. Fire officials said no worker was inside the factory when fire broke out.

Raj Kumar, a fireman, said it took around five hours to douse the fire.

“As soon as we received the information about the fire, we rushed the fire brigades to the spot, four floors of the factory were engulfed in the fire,” said Kumar.

Hang me if proved I have taken Saradha money: Madan Mitra

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Refuting CBI’s claims that huge amount was transferred to his account, arrested West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra Friday told a court to hang him if it was proved that he had taken the Saradha scam money.

Mitra was presented before the court of Judicial Magistrate M.K. Roy on the expiry of his judicial custody where his counsel pressed for his bail while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) opposed it claiming that huge amount of money was transferred to his bank account.

Saudi Arabia arrests Shia terrorist

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Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry announced Friday that a Shia Saudi national, who is on a list of 23 wanted terrorists, has been arrested for instigating unrest in the eastern part of the country.

Montadhar Ali Saleh Alsbaiti, 23, was arrested Thursday in the Shia town of Al-Awamiya, where unrest has been surging since early 2011 following protests against discrimination and demand for democratic reforms in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, Xinhua reported citing the ministry.

`Bad luck` plays far greater role in cancer than genes and environment

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Scientists have now claimed that it is “bad luck” more than genes and environment that causes cancer. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have created a statistical model that measures the proportion of cancer incidence, across many tissue types, caused mainly by random mutations that occur when stem cells divide.

Kothari, Advani top seeds in billiards, snooker championship

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As many as 922 players including title holders Pankaj Advani and Sourav Kothari will be seen in action in the BRC Gloster national billiards and snooker championship beginning here Saturday.

The event, running till Jan 24, will see participation from all the states as also the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), West Bengal Billiards Association president Pradip Saraogi told a media meet Friday.

Among others who would vie for honours are Rupesh Shah, Vidya Pillai, Suniti Damani and world championship bronze medal winner Nita Kothari.

Staying couch bound for 5 continuous days can harm your health

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Being couch bound and inactive for five days in a row can be harmful for your health, claims a new study. According to the researchers, a body needs physical activity like taking at least 10,000 steps per day and Paul Fadel, associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, found that being idle for even a few days causes damage to blood vessels, which takes time to fix, the Daily Express reported. He added that it results in weight gain and insulin resistance, which leads to Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

‘Understand ‘PK’ context before commenting’

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With Aamir Khan-starrer “PK” facing protests from Hindu rightwing groups alleging that it defames Hindu religion, a religious leader Friday said one must first examine the context of the film before making accusations

“We must be very sensitive anyway in a right way, first of all, to not give any cause for such a controversy.

“Secondly, we must understand the context… maybe it wasn’t an insult at all. In what context those words were used… these must be clarified,” Archbishop of Calcutta Thomas D’Souza told IANS here but added he has not himself watched the film yet.

Pakistan seeks early hearing of Lakhvi case

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The Pakistani government Friday sought an early hearing in the Supreme Court of the case against Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has challenged the suspension of the detention order of Lakhvi, Geo TV reported.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday suspended the notification of detention of Lakhvi in the Mumbai terror attacks case.

He had moved the Islamabad High Court against the government’s decision over his detention.

Cell`s `biological clock` may harbor cancer cure

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Scientists are targeting cell’s ‘biological clock’ in order to find a way to get rid of cancer cells. UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers found that a small molecule 6-thio-2’-deoxyguanosine could stop the growth of cancer cells in culture and decrease the growth of tumors in mice, and have targeted telomeres with 6-thiodG, that takes advantage of the cell’s ‘biological clock’ to kill cancer cells and shrink tumor growth. Dr. Jerry W.

Special bench constituted to hear Jayalalithaa’s appeal today

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The Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court has set up a special bench of Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy to hear the appeals filed by the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three others who have challenged their conviction in the disproportionate assets case. The setting up of special bench comes after the Supreme Court had earlier on December 18 directed the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court to constitute it to hear the Jayalalithaa”s appeal. An apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, had also asked the High Court to hear the case on a day-to-day basis.

Two fresh cases of swine flu reported in Delhi

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Two fresh cases of swine flu have been reported from Delhi, a health official said here Friday.

According to the Delhi health department, the two cases were of a 35-year-old female from south Delhi’s C.R. Park area and another 53-year-old woman from Chattarpur area.

“The samples of both the women have been confirmed at the National Centre for Disease Control Friday and they have been admitted to separate hospitals,” health department official Charan Singh told IANS.

ISRO’s Mars Orbiter completes 100 days

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The country’s first inter-planetary mission MOM or Mangalyaan launched on November 5, 2013 on board ISRO”s PSLV C25 from Sriharikota has completed 100 days around Mars. India”s maiden Mars Mission successfully reached the red planet on September 24, elevating the country to a position that was at par with other elite nations in the global space race. India joined the United States, Russia and Europe in successfully sending probes to orbit or land on Mars. ISRO”s low-cost mission crowned India as the first country to execute such a project in its first attempt.

ANI

Workers to be trained to handle swine flu cases in Delhi

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The Delhi health department will train workers in government and private hospitals to tackle the rising number of swine flu cases, an official said Friday.

The government has planned to set up special out patients departments in authorised hospitals to separately treat people suspected to be suffering from swine flu.

“The Delhi health secretary has directed officials to work for swine flu patients on priority basis and make people aware about it,” a senior health official told IANS.

Gujarat science fair attracts students to various high technology exhibits

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The Gujarat State Science Fair organised by Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT) attracted many students to the various high technology exhibits on display. Various schools from all over Gujarat participated in the fair, managed by the Municipal School Board, and students demonstrated various models and projects. A spy robot made by 17-year-old student Mihir Pujara displayed at the fair pulled many to the exhibit.

Gogoi inaugurates Guwahati police commissionerate

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Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has inaugurated the first ever police commissionerate of the region at the ‘Police Reserve’ campus here. On this occasion, Assam Police DGP, Khagen Sharma and outgoing SSP of Kamprup Metro A.P. Tiwari were also present. After taking the as the maiden commissioner of the new security mechanism, IPS officer Jyotirmoy Chakraborty, said that there is a lot of work to be done and wished for peoples’ support. This police commissionerate was a long waiting system for Guwahati.

Fedders Lloyd bags Rs.106.99 crore deal from Odisha

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Punj family-owned diversified company Fedders Lloyd Corporation Ltd (FLCL) Friday said it has bagged contracts aggregating to Rs.106.99 crore by Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) for two power projects.

FLCL will be executing the design, engineering, supply, testing and commissioning of construction of 2X20 MVA, 132/33 KV sub-stations and associated transmission lines on turnkey basis.