Month: February 2015

Indian-origin lawyer appointed judicial commissioner in Singapore

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An Indian-origin senior counsel has been appointed as a judicial commissioner of the Singapore High Court, a media report said.

Kannan Ramesh, 49, will serve for a term of two years with effect from May 22, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Ramesh specialises in dispute resolution, insolvency and restructuring, and international arbitration, The Straits Times reported.

He graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1990, and was appointed a senior counsel — which recognises the best and most skilful advocates in the legal profession

Attacks on the christian community in the city of Jaipur

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In 48 hours of Mohan Bhagwat’s presence in Rajasthan and his statements of hate regarding Mother Teresa, resulted in these attacks happening n Jaipur with communal elements motivted the police to beat up 20 preachers in the police station. Press notw is in Hindi. The memorandum to the Police Commissioner is in English. See the photos of the injuries on the hands and wrist of the men who had come from Hyderabad.

Hungama gives fans chance to head-bang with mock show at Emerge Music and Art Festival

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Hungama.com, India’s leading digital music service, has partnered with Emerge – Music and Art Festival to give its users a feeling of rock music.

In addition to the live-streaming of the iconic opening act of the rock festival, Hungama will be giving fans and consumers a chance to turn into rock-stars for the evening with an exclusive set-up at the event.

Budget is pro poor, pro farmer, pro unemployed youth: Rajnath Singh

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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday termed the Budget for fiscal 2015-16 as pro poor, pro farmer and pro unemployed youth, adding that it would play an important role in building of modern India.

” Budget 2015 is worth appreciation. Will help in the elimination of poverty and unemployment,” he told media here.

“It will play an important role in the formation of modern India. This budget is pro poor, pro farmer, and pro unemployed youth ,” he added.

India bowl out UAE for 102

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India bowlers delivered a dominating performance to skittle out the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a paltry 102 runs off 31.3 overs in a World Cup Pool B match at the WACA here Saturday.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers, notching his first four-wicket haul in One-Day Internationals (ODI) for 25 runs from his 10 overs — which also included a maiden.

Pacer Umesh Yadav (2/15) and spinner Ravindra Jadeja (2/23) clinched two wickets each as the minnows were bowled out for the lowest total of this World Cup so far.

Over 80,000 secondary schools to be upgraded

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday said the government was committed to providing quality education and planned to upgrade over 80,000 secondary schools in the country.

Presenting the Union Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said educating and skilling the youth to enable them to get employment is the “altar before which we must all bow”.

Budget is pro-farmer, pro-poor: Rajnath Singh

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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday that the budget proposals for 2015-16 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament were pro-farmer and pro-poor.

“The discussion to alleviate poverty and employment had taken place lot of times, but nothing has been done ever practically. This budget is extremely appreciable. This budget is pro-farmer and pro-poor,” he told ANI.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu said the budget was an innovative one, and by and large, the public would be happy about the announcements made by Finance Minister Jaitley.

Alonso was going at 134 miles-per-hour when he lost control during testing accident

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McLaren driver Fernando Alonso was reportedly going at 134 miles-per-hour when he lost control in the testing accident last Sunday that left him with concussion, but, thankfully, no serious injuries.

Data seen by teams has indicated that the Spaniard attempted the Barcelona track’s Turn Three faster than on his previous lap, which was his fastest of the day.

A senior revealed that the information suggested there were no suspicious circumstances to the accident. He said that it looks like Alonso simply went into Turn Three quicker and ran wide, the BBC reported.

Jaitley proposes abolition of wealth tax

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday proposed to abolish the wealth tax paid by the super-rich of the nation, recommending in its place the payment of an additional surcharge on income tax instead.

Italian lawmakers back resolution urging govt. to recognise Palestinian state

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Italian lawmakers have come out in support of a non-binding resolution urging the government to recognise Palestine as a state.

According to News 24, Italy’s Chamber of Deputies voted by 300 to 45 to pass the motion presented by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party.

The move comes amid widespread criticism of Israel by European countries following the collapse of the recent US-sponsored talks last April.

Palestine has been recognized as a state by most developing countries.

Ukrainian leader says country faces military threat from east despite ceasefire agreement

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that a “military threat from the east” cannot be ruled out even if a truce is reached between government troops and pro-Russian rebels in the east.

According to the BBC, Poroshenko’s warning is widely seen as an indirect reference to Russia.

Russia is accused of backing the rebels by providing them with arms and soldiers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has constantly denied the claims.

Earlier, Putin reportedly went on record to say that a war with neighbouring Ukraine would be “apocalyptic” but was “unlikely,” a report said.

Banned Youtube accessibility in some parts of Pak put down to technical glitch

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Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman has said that the accessibility of Youtube in some regions of the country was due to a technical glitch which will soon be fixed.

According to Dawn News, senior official in the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) believes that YouTube became accessible through certain Internet Service Providers (ISPs) due to a technical fault.

The minister said that the news of un block ing will be announced officially.

Budget 2015 high on intent, low on delivery: Manish Tewari

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Congress leader Manish Tewari on Saturday said the Union Budget 2015 was high on intent and low on delivery, adding that there was nothing in it for the common man.

“The budget fails to address the structural of the Indian economy. It is high on intent, low on delivery. There is nothing in this budget for common man. ” Tewari told ANI.

“It tries to confuse, if not abuse by going into detail and the specific examples of that is there is no timeline with regard to the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax,” he added.

US averts partial shutdown of homeland security as House passes one-week funding bill

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US lawmakers were able to fend off a partial shutdown of homeland security as a one-week funding extension was passed hours before the due time.

According to the BBC, the House of Representatives voted 357-60 in favour of the short-term bill after it had been passed in the Senate.

The bill was signed by US president Barack Obama , who announced that he was in support of a short-term deal to avoid the shutdown.

Following the deal, the department’s 250,000 employees will be paid while a longer-term funding agreement is discussed, the report added. (ANI)

Indian on-demand delivery service start-up Grofers raises 10 mln dollars in series A round

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An on-demand delivery service start-up for Indian cities Grofers has raised 10 million dollars in Series A round led by Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global.

According to Tech Crunch, Grofers helps local buyers by providing them with a mobile platform for their inventory as well as facilitates on-demand delivery within 90 minutes.

Grofers’ co founder Albinder Dhindsa said that the capital will allow the company to expand into more cities as it currently operates only in Mumbai and Delhi.

Dhindsa said that Bangalore is first on their list as far as expansion is concerned.

Two held in woman gangrape case

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Two persons were today arrested in connection with the gangrape of a married woman at Mourigram Railway Station in West Bengal’s Howrah district.

Police said the duo, Omprakash Show and Munna Dey, were arrested today from Mourigram area.

The incident occurred on Thursday night at Mourigram station premises after the couple missed the last train to their village in West Midnapore and were sleeping on the platform, according to GRP officials.

About four men lifted the woman to a corner and raped her after tying her husband with ropes.

Panchayat president hacked to heath

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President of a panchayat, who was attacked by a gang allegedly for removing the encroachment on a pathway, succumbed to injuries at a private hospial today, police said.

Karuppasamy, president of Karcheri Panchayat (AIADMK) was attacked the gang, who were hiding near his house last last night for removing the encroach in the public utility area. His fingers were cut off in the attack and he suffered injuries in the neck and and head.

He was admitted to the hospital where he succumbed to injuries today.

China appoints new environmental protection minister

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China has appointed Chen Jining, a scientist in ecological studies, as its new environmental protection minister, replacing Zhou Shengxian.

Chen, 51, was appointed as Communist Party chief of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in late January, paving the way for his formal installation as minister, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Genes behind back pain and depression link: study

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The commonly found association between low back pain and depression may actually be due to certain genetic factors, suggests a large new study of twins.

Genetic factors affecting both conditions may be involved in the association between back pain and depression, according Marina B Pinheiro and colleagues of The University of Sydney, Australia, and Murcia Twin Registry, Spain.

The researchers analysed data from an established database (Murcia Twin Registry) of nearly 2,150 Spanish twins.

HC helps young couple get married

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Kerala High Court has lent a helping hand to a young couple from different faiths, who were facing death threats from fundamentalists, to enter wedlock.

The Hindu woman and her Muslim lover were forced to flee Kasaragod, the northernmost district of Kerala, after they received death threats following their decision to get married.

The matter came up before the Kerala High Court after the girl’s father K M Shashindran filed a habeas corpus petition stating that his daughter was missing.

Meditation can reduce chronic neck pain

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Meditation might be an effective treatment for reducing chronic neck pain, according to a new research.

Chronic neck pain can lead to serious comorbidities like depression. Patients with chronic neck pain frequently experience distress, researchers said.

Previous research has shown that chronic pain is associated with distress and that meditation has stress relieving benefits.

In a study published in The Journal of Pain, researchers compared the effects of meditation on pain, perceived stress and psychological well being.

Highly processed foods most addictive: study

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Highly processed foods such as chocolate, pizza and French fries are among the most addictive, according to a new study.

This is one of the first studies to examine specifically which foods may be implicated in “food addiction,” which has become of growing interest to scientists and consumers in light of the obesity epidemic, researchers said.

Previous studies in animals conclude that highly processed foods, or foods with added fat or refined carbohydrates (like white flour and sugar), may be capable of triggering addictive-like eating behaviour.

Sensex gains 262 points in early trade ahead of Budget

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The benchmark BSE Sensex surged over 262 points and the NSE Nifty regained the 8,900-mark in early trade of a special stock market session today on continued capital inflows and increased buying by retail investors ahead of Budget 2015-16 slated to be announced later in the day.

The 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, which zoomed 473.47 points in the previous session on the back of robust growth projections in the Economic Survey, gained 262.33 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 29,482.45.