Month: January 2015

Oil prices down in thin pre-holiday trade

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Crude edged lower in thin pre-holiday trade on Wednesday ahead of the release of a key US supply report, as analysts predicted a rebound in prices in the new year after shedding nearly 50 per cent since June.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February delivery fell 38 cents to $53.74 while Brent crude for February eased 49 cents to $57.41 in mid-morning trade.

Trading volumes were thin with many dealers away ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday on Thursday. Financial markets in Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand are closed on Tuesday.

Maruti’s December sales jump 20.8 pc; shares up

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Country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Thursday reported a 20.8 per cent increase in total sales in December at 1,09,791 units.

The car maker had reported sales of 90,924 units in the same month last year.

Following the release of strong sales numbers, shares of Maruti were trading 0.50 per cent higher at Rs 3,344 in an otherwise weak general market.
The company said its domestic sales increased by 13.3 per cent during the month to 98,109 units as against 86,613 units in December, 2013.

ISS Astronauts Celebrate New Year’s Eve 16 Times

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The crew of Expedition 42 orbiting the Earth in the International Space Station celebrated New Year’s eve as many as 16 times as it circles the globe at 28,163 km per hour, NASA said.

Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and his crew spent the New Year’s eve working on a variety of experiments, ranging from those directed at better understanding changes that occur in the human eye during long-duration spaceflights, and with the Earth observations aimed at helping with disaster aid on the Earth’s surface.

Six Engineering Students died in accident while celebrating new year

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Tragedy struck as six engineering students returning after New Year revelry were killed when their car and an LPG tanker collided in the wee hours of the day at nearby Chathannur.

According to police, the victims, all men in third year of B.Tech, were heading to their campus after the New Year celebrations at the beach resort Varkala in neighbouring Thiruvananthapuram District.

All of the six, who died on the spot, were students of a private engineering college here.

Notorious thief of Golconda arrested

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Commissioner of Police Hyderabad Mr. Mahinder Reddy issued orders to arrest notorious thief of Golconda Mohammed Saifuddin alias Qutub under Preventive Detention Act (PD Act). He has been sent to jail. Qutub is said to be involved in 53 theft cases. According to sources Qutub was sentenced in 10 cases in the past however he was found involved in illegal activities again after completing his term and released on bail.

Siasat news

New Year’s eve gala around Burj Khalifa breaks Guinness Record

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A dazzling show of New Year’s eve gala using 70,000 LED bulbs around the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa here has broken the Guinness World Record of the ‘Largest LED-Illuminated Facade’.

The never-before-seen show of fireworks, Light Emitting Diode lights and laser beam displays became one of the world’s most-watched New Year’s Eve spectacle with residents and visitors from around the world thronging around the 829.8 metres tall skyscraper to watch the display.

Husband ends life following row with wife

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A man committed suicide following row with his wife. The incident occurred under Jubilee Hills police station limits where 30-year-old Mallesh, R/O Rahmat Nagar, Yousuf Guda, committed suicide. On December 27, following a row with his wife, Mallesh doused himself in kerosene and set himself ablaze. He died on Tuesday while undergoing treatment.

Siasat news

AP CM to celebrate New Year in Vijayawada

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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will celebrate the New Year here on Thursday.

He arrived in the city last evening by a special flight and is staying at the state guest house, a State Information department release said.

Today, he will interact with ministers, MPs, MLAs, officials and local VIPs to wish them.

Later in the evening, Naidu will visit Chataparru village in West Godavari district and return to Hyderabad from there directly.

This would be the Chief Minister’s first New Year celebration after attaining power for the second term.

–PTI

Imran Khan’s PTI looks to resume protests against Pakistan Government

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Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party plan to resume protests as he feels that the Nawaz Sharif-led government continues to drag its feet over the setting up of a judicial commission to investigate the alleged rigging of the May 2013 general elections.

Originally slated for December 18, 2014, Imran Khan’s plan to stage nation-wide protests against the government was put on hold after the December 16 massacre of school children in Peshawar.

Crude palm oil futures down 0.30 pc on sluggish demand

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Crude palm oil prices softened by 0.30 per cent to Rs 459.00 per 10 kg in futures trade today driven by subdued demand in spot markets.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude palm oil for delivery in January month declined by Rs 1.40, or 0.30 per cent to Rs 459 per 10 kg in business turnover of 39 lots.

Likewise, the oil for delivery in February contract shed Re 1, or 0.21 per cent to Rs 466.20 per 10 kg in 2 lots.

Wimbledon champ Kvitova becomes ‘Right To Play’ ambassador

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Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been chosen as a Global Athlete ambassador for Right To Play, an organization emphasizing on sports and play in order to educate and empower more than one million children around the world.

An elated Kvitova, who is currently ranked number four, said that she was excited to be a Global Athlete Ambassador for Right To Play, adding that it was a charity whose work she really believe in – giving children the opportunity to learn through sport is a cause that’s very close to her heart, the China Daily reported.

Jennifer Garner slams ‘abusive’ hacking

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Actress Jennifer Garner has slammed the hacking of female celebrities’ photographs as ‘violent abuse’.

The 42-year-old ‘Men, Women & Children’ actress said that seeing stars such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Anna Kendrick have their intimate pictures stolen from their iCloud accounts and posted online earlier this year made her so angry, she wanted to ‘hurt somebody’.

India constructs 27,000 houses in Sri Lanka

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The Indian Housing Project in Sri Lanka continues to make excellent progress, with the project reaching its target of constructing or repairing 16,000 houses during 2014, the High Commission of India in Colombo said in a release today.

A total of 27,000 houses have been constructed or repaired under this project till date.

During 2014, 14,555 new houses were constructed under the project in the Northern Province, and 1,447 in the Eastern Province. In addition, 162 damaged houses were repaired in the Northern Province.

Samsung unveils new TV platform to cut Google reliance

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South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics today said it will release smart televisions equipped with its new platform built around the Tizen operating system this year, as it seeks to lower its reliance on Google.

Samsung said all of its new web-connected TV sets would be run by Tizen, and added that it would unveil its first-ever Tizen smart TVs at a consumer electronics fair in Las Vegas next week.

Men in conflicts have more wives, children

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Under certain conditions, violent conflict may offer a biological benefit to those who take part in it, a Harvard study has found.

In the study over members of an East African herding tribe, the team noticed that those who engaged in conflict – in the form of violent raids carried out on neighbouring groups – had more wives and children.

Domingo resolute about not wanting De Villiers to ‘keep’ for Proteas in ODIs

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South Africa cricket team coach Russell Domingo is resolute over his decision that he does not want batsman AB de Villiers committing to his role as a wicket keeper for the team in ODIs, as the World Cup draws near.

De Villiers put on the gloves in the first two Tests in place of wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who injured his ankle in a warm-up session on day three of the first Test in Centurion on December 19.

De Kock’s injury was said to take six to 12 weeks to heal, placing the wicketkeeper-batsman in doubt for the World Cup starting in February, Sport24 reported.

Liverpool’s positive performances encourage owners about club’s PL title chances

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Liverpool football club’s American owners have revealed to the team’s supporters that they are encouraged by recent ‘positive’ performances.

Although manager Brendan Rodgers had been under recent scrutiny with his team 11th in the Premier League and out of the Champions League at the group stages, successive league wins have lifted Liverpool to eighth, five points adrift of fourth-placed Southampton.

Sri Lanka reinstates granting of dual citizenship

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Sri Lanka will once again grant dual citizenship to expatriate Sri Lankans, the Ministry of Defense announced today.

The granting of Dual Citizenship, according to a Lanka Page report, has been reintroduced by a Cabinet approval and will be in force from today.

This was confirmed by Additional Secretary (Civil Security and Development) of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development Damayanthi Jayaratna.

He said the facility was being reinstated after three years.

—ANI

Jammu and Kashmir: A reality check

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The euphoria of the very successful elections in Jammu and Kashmir has been somewhat dampened by a festering stand-off over the formation of a government.

Despite there being so many options the Kashmir-based local political parties are not ready to come forward with a viable solution.

It has been universally acknowledged that the aspiration of the people of the state is democracy with attendant peace, progress and development. It would, therefore, be reasonable to deduce that the people of the state would expect their government to deliver on the mandate that it has received.

Pregnanat women succumb to H1N1 flu

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A 21 year old pregnant women dies of swine flu. The women hails from hyderabad who had admitted to Osmania hospital on 27 of Dec.

The women who tested positive for Swine flu took her las brath on Wednesday , she Was sudffering from lungs infection. Swine flu had claimed the lives of four persons this month.

There are five five more persons who tested positive for swine flu are under treatment including 3 chilodren.
Dr. Rao stated that swine flu is not life- threatening if cure on time, and asked people not to panic.

Huge fire destroys hundreds of Philippine shanties

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A huge fire, believed to have been ignited by firecrackers, razed hundreds of shanties in a creekside slum in metropolitan Manila today in one of more than a dozen fires reported across the country as Filipinos welcomed the New Year.

Village officer Noel Carino said the fire, apparently sparked by firecrackers set off by children, erupted after dawn and was spread quickly by strong winds through nearly a kilometer-long row of shanties in a village in suburban Quezon city.

Firefighters struggled to get near the burning shanties because of narrow alleys.

Cancer deaths in US drop 22 percent in 20 years

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Driven by declines in smoking rates, cancer mortality in the US has dropped 22 percent over two decades, a new report says.

The American Cancer Society’s annual cancer statistics report estimated that this drop in cancer mortality led to the avoidance of more than 1.5 million cancer deaths that would have occurred if peak rates had persisted.

“The continuing drops we are seeing in cancer mortality are reason to celebrate, but not to stop,” said John Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society.

Budget released for minority institutions

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Telangana government has released a budget of 8.5 cr for minority welfare institutions. Special Secretary Telangana government issued orders in this connection.

7.51 Cr were released for multifaceted development of minority dominant areas. Grant in aid of 82.86 lakh was released for Telangana Hajj Committee.

Siasat news

A quiet beginning of 2015 for Big B

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Megastar Amitabh Bachchan welcomed 2015 on a quiet note at his residence here.

“It has been a most quiet bringing in…an empty home without the kids and the cheer of the family voices, shrill and excited as the hours become one. At times I feel it to be a blessing – these normal and quiet evenings,” the 72-year-old posted on his official blog srbachchan.tumblr.com.

The actor, who lives with his family in Jalsa, also pointed out that with new year comes new anticipations, goals and aspirations.

Armed Forces Pay Committee recommends over 100 percent salary hike for Bangladesh armed forces

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The eight-member Armed Forces Pay Committee, led by its chairman Lt. Gen. Anwar Hossain, has handed over its report to Bangladesh Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith with a recommendation for an over 100 per cent hike in salaries for members of the Bangladesh Army,Navy and Air Force.

The committee, according to the Daily Star, suggested Taka 8,200 basic pay for lowest grade soldier, Taka 80,000 for the rank and equivalent of a major general, Taka 88,000 for lieutenant general and equal and Taka 1 lakh for a general and similar rank.