Month: April 2015

IAEA welcomes framework Iran n-deal

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has welcomed the framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, according to which Iran is set to allow the agency more access to its nuclear sites.

“The IAEA welcomes the announcement by E3+3 and Iran on the key parameters for a joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” IAEA Director-general Yukiya Amano said in a statement.

On Thursday, rhe six world powers — the US, Russia and China, and France, Britain and Germany (the EU-3) — and Iran set a June 30 deadline for a final deal.

‘My parents’ view on religion inspired me,’ says Muslim girl who aced Gita competition

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Twelve-year-old Maryam Siddiqui, who made headlines after acing a ‘Gita competition’ in Mumbai, on Friday said she was inspired by her parents’ views on the equality of all religions.

“My parents have inspired me that all relations and religions are equal. Humanity is a religion which has been divided. I also tell my friends circle that we are all one and we should never fight on the basis of religion,” Maryam told ANI.

‘Camera in trial room an assault on modesty of women’: Kiran Bedi

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Former IPS officer and BJP leader Kiran Bedi on Friday said that having a camera in the change room is an absolute assault on the modesty of women.

“Having a camera in the change room is an absolute assault on the modesty of women and I am glad that Mrs Irani has reported this,” Bedi told ANI here.

“I think it is an exposure of its kind and must be quite rampant,” she added.

The former IPS officer asserted that this is an offence in the Indian Penal Code.

Smriti Irani exposed hidden camera in Goa changing room

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Union minister for HRD Smriti Irani on Friday spotted a hidden camera in a trial room of an outlet of popular clothing chain FabIndia in Goa and without delay reported the matter to the police.

The HRD Minister, who is holidaying in Goa sea side after being sidelined by the BJP’s top leadership for its National Executive meet in Bangalore, had reportedly gone shopping at the popular clothing brand’s store in Candolim when she spotted the camera.

The camera was positioned such a way that the lens pointed right into the trial room and was not clearly visible.

Kejriwal may lead ‘parliament gherao’ against land bill

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal might lead a march to parliament against the controversial land acquisition bill, the party said here on Friday.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh said Kejriwal will address the party’s rally at Jantar Mantar on April 22 and might also lead the march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament.

AAP had decided in its national council meeting on March 28 to hold a march and “gherao” (lay siege to) parliament against the bill, which critics say is meant to snatch land from poor farmers for industrialists.

Pakistan, Turkey call for peaceful solution to Yemen crisis

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Pakistan and Turkey on Friday called on Yemen’s warring parties to reach a peaceful solution to end the ongoing crisis.

The appeal was made during a joint press press conference held by visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in the Turkish capital Ankara, Xinhua news agency reported.

Pakistan and Turkey have decided to stand with Saudi Arabia to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, Pakistan’s prime minister told the conference.

Discarded drug can better fight cancer

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A discarded anti-cancer drug might be more useful in the fight against cancer than previously thought, say researchers from the University of Missouri.

Doctors used 6-Thioguanine, or 6-TG, as a chemotherapy treatment to kill cancer cells in patients with leukaemia for decades.

However, in recent years, many doctors have shelved 6-TG in favour of newer drugs.

Now, researchers found that 6-TG can not only kill cancer cells, but also works to change how certain cancer cells function, weakening those cells so they can be killed by other drugs.

India’s forex reserves increase by $1.4 bn

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India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.38 billion to $341.37 billion for the week ended March 27, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed on Friday.

According to analysts, the Indian reserves are being build up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to absorb any future global financial shock that was witnessed in June 2013.

MNS workers allegedly attack Jogeshwari vendors in Mumbai

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Workers of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena allegedly attacked the hawkers and vandalized their hand carts at Jogeshwari in Mumbai’s western suburb, claiming that they were operating there as ‘outsiders’, causing inconvenience to the people.

Search operations have been intensified by the Mumbai Police to nab the four accused who were booked for attacking the vendors.

Reportedly, around 20 to 30 MNS workers arrived at Jogeshwari shouting slogans and began beating up the hawkers and vandalized the fruits, vegetables and other items being sold by the hawkers.

Indian Navy ensure comfortable stay for Yemen evacuees

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Indian Navy personnel sought to ensure a comfortable stay for the second batch of 306 Indians they evacuated from the strife-torn Yemen late Thursday and took to neighbouring Djibouti in Africa, an official said here on Friday.

The Indians – 251 men, 38 women and 17 children – were picked up by INS Sumitra from Yemen’s Al Hodeidah and set off to Djibouti, across the Gulf of Aden.

Blackmailing girls on social media arrests a youth

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A youth has been arrested for allegedly blackmailing girls after befriending them on social networking sites, police said on Friday. Upon receiving complaint from a girl, the Cyber Cell of the Crime Branch of police in Kanpur on Thursday arrested Deepak Gour, a resident of Nababgunj, they said.

Posing as an official of a firm, Gour befriended several girls on Facebook and Whatsapp, Sub-Inspector of Cyber Cell Manik Chand Patel said. Gour then used to obtain pictures of girls by luring them with job offer and then photo shopped their pictures to blackmail them for money, he added.

Govt. moves SC seeking review of Jat quota verdict

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The BJP-led government has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court pleading for its nod to extend reservation to the Jat community in the field of education and for jobs under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.

“The Centre’s power to make available quota for a community is not dependent on the advice of the National Commission for Backward Classes,” the petition filed on Wednesday said.

Don’t need sermons from Amit Shah, says Congress leader Anand Sharma

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The Congress party on Friday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to do some “honest soul searching” over the false promises they made to the people of the country while adding that they don’t need sermons from BJP president Amit Shah.

“Amit Shah is national president of the BJP, and one did expect that he will talk with some maturity. Congress does not need his sermons. In the national executive meet, they should be reflecting doing some honest soul searching that they made false promises to the people, to the youth, to the farmers, to the women,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said.

Modi government is here to stay for next 10-20 years, believes Amit Shah

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Modi government is here to stay for 10-20 years, BJP President Amit Shah asserted on Friday, claiming that the new dispensation has ended the “reign of scams” and policy paralysis while changing the political culture in the country.

“Modi ‘sarkar’ (government) has arrived and will be in power for next 10-20 years. It will change the face of India,” he said while addressing the party’s National Executive.

India might increase import duty to curb China’s steel ‘dumping’

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Alarmed by the “dumping” from China, the steel ministry today pressed for raising the import duty to protect the domestic industry.

“The steel industry and the government, both are worried over dumping from China. We have discussed increasing the import duty with the Finance Minister, and we hope that we will get favourable results,” Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told a press conference here.

The steel imports from China in April-January 2014-15 rose to 2.9 million tonnes (MT) against 1.08 MT for the entire 2013-14.

12-year-old Muslim girl wins Gita contest in Mumbai

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A twelve-year-old Muslim girl Maryam Siddiqui has won the first position among over 3,000 participants at the ‘Gita Champions League’ contest, organized by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) in January reports The Times of India.

Maryam is a rank holder at the exams in school. But recently, the class VI student has aced a written competition based on the Bhagwad Gita.

The 100 mark multiple choice question based test, evaluates children on their knowledge of the Gita.

Woman board member: 180 NSE listed firms failed to comply

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As many as 180 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) have not inducted a woman director so far as required by the Companies Act and officials expect the market regulator to come out with its views and penalties for non-compliance.

The deadline for induction of woman director expired on March 31.

“At least 180 companies out of 1,456 NSE listed companies that have to comply with the rule of having a woman director have failed to fulfil the requirement,” Pranav Haldea, managing director, Prime Database told IANS over phone from New Delhi.

SBI to soon disburse loans in 10 days

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To improve customer experience, India’s largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to shorten the home loan disbursal period from the current 17 days’ time-frame to 10 days, a senior official said here on Friday.

“We are shortening the loan disbursal period to 10 days within the coming six months. Presently, it is 17 days and last year it was 31 days,” the bank’s chief general manager, Prashant Kumar, told mediapersons on the sidelines of a housing expo organised by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI).

Microsoft puts a stop to Kinect for Windows v2 sensors

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Microsoft has announced that it will no longer be making Kinect for Windows v2 sensors.

Launched last year, the Kinect Adapter allows users to connect a Kinect for Xbox One sensor to Windows 8.0 and 8.1 PCs and tablets.

CNET quoted Michael Fry, a senior technology evangelist for Kinect for Windows, as saying, that because both Kinect for Xbox One and Kinect for Windows v2 sensors are functionally identical, Kinect for Windows SDK 2.0 works exactly the same with either.

Fry also said that Microsoft would still provide support for Kinect for both Xbox and Windows.

Rescued Indian national in New Zealand dead

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An Indian national rescued from drowning in New Zealand died on Friday.

Police said Boobesh Palani, 26, who was studying in New Zealand, was rescued from the waters off Wellington Harbour on Monday by two teenaged girls and two young men.

Palani died in Wellington Hospital on Friday, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Palani’s family thanked the public for their support over the last few days.

“This is a tragedy but thanks to the public’s help we were able to establish Palani’s identity which meant his friends were at his side for his final few days,” police said.

Aircraft, ships to bring 1,900 Indians from Yemen

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A total of 1,900 Indians will be evacuated from Yemen in three aircraft and two ships, with one flight landing in Kochi at night, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Friday.

“The information that we have is two IAF aircraft and an Air India aircraft will be evacuating Indians. Two of these aircraft will land in Mumbai,” he said here in a statement.

Chandy wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday that while Pakistan, Russia and China had evacuated all their nationals from Yemen, it was a matter of concern that India had been unable to do so.

Sony buying some OnLive assets for its cloud gaming services

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Sony Computer Entertainment is buying various assets of OnLive, including 140 U.S. and international patents for cloud gaming services.

Onlive will be shutting its operations on April 30. The company is not renewing any subscriptions, and users whose subscriptions renewed on or after March 28 will be refunded.

OnLive says that the OnLive Game Service, OnLive Desktop and SL Go (Second Life) will all be available until April 30.

Indian techie dies in Sydney after fall

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An Indian IT analyst has died after falling off the balcony of a third-floor apartment in Sydney, the media reported on Friday.

Pankaj Saw, 29, who worked for Tech Mahindra, was talking to his wife in India on the phone when he plunged about 10 metres to the ground at the block of apartments in Macquarie Park on Thursday, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The New South Wales police said detectives believed the Indian national’s death was a result of “misadventure” and initial investigation suggested there may have been “some fault with the balcony”.

‘Serial Kisser’ Emraan Hashmi says there are no intimate scenes in ‘Mr. X’

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Emraan Hashmi, who is busy promoting his upcoming science-fiction thriller ‘Mr. X’, says there are no intimate scenes in the movie.

“Mr. X does not have any intimate scenes. There are only two very small kissing scenes, in which I was not there. So, Amyra has done it with the invisible guy” the 36-year old actor said.

When asked how tough it is to shoot a bold scene, the ‘Murder’ star said, “It’s like any other scene. It’s not easier than any emotional or a song-dance scene. It’s pretty much the same.”