Successful spectrum bidders, including Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone, have made over Rs 7,000 crore towards upfront payments — a move that will help the government narrow its fiscal deficit target for the fiscal ending on Tuesday.
Also, others telecom firms such as Reliance Jio and Tata Teleservices that won airwaves in the recent spectrum auction have committed to pay by evening today.
Folic acid supplements may be an inexpensive alternative for helping older adults to increase skin blood flow during heat waves and reduce cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, suggests a new research.
The study published online in the journal Clinical Science showed that supplemental folic acid can enhance blood vessel dilation in older adults.
The presence of two antibodies may trigger episodes of psychosis in children, says a study, affirming a longstanding belief that auto-immune disorders play a significant role in psychiatric illnesses.
Antibodies defend the body against bacterial, viral, and other invaders but sometimes the body makes antibodies that attack healthy cells. In these cases, auto-immune disorders develop.
These include conditions such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and Type 1 diabetes.
Congress leader and former minister of state for home R.P.N Singh on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should publicly apologise for Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Giriraj Singh’s racist remark on party president Sonia Gandhi.
R P N Singh said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ministers were habitual of making such outlandish and condemnable comments.
Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Giriraj Singh landed himself in another political controversy on Wednesday when he racially targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Sitting among a group of his supporters in Hajipur, Singh asked jocularly whether Sonia’s “white skin” had been her ticket to securing the top job in the Congress party.
Stoking the controversy further, he further queried, “If Rajiv (Gandhi) had married a Nigerian, things would have been different.”
Misao Okawa, a Japanese woman recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living person died today, nearly a month after celebrating her 117th birthday.
Okawa, died of natural causes this morning at a nursing home in Osaka, nursing home officials said.
Okawa was born to the family of a kimono shop owner in Osaka on March 5, 1898, the same year the US annexed the Hawaiian Islands and Pepsi-Cola was launched, ‘Kyodo’ news agency reported.
Okawa had credited her longevity to eating sushi and getting at least eight hours sleep a night.
Two newly-wed brothers in Pakistan are unfortunately supposed to spend the first week of their married life behind bars after police arrested them on terrorism charges for letting off firecrackers during their joint wedding ceremony.
The joint- wedding took place in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area near Hasan Square, a densely occupied area of the city.
According to police officer Abbas Golarchi, the grooms along with three other people are charged under the explosives provisions of anti-terrorism legislation.
Police have arrested a man in Gurgaon for allegedly raping a six-year-old girl at a city park.
The accused has been identified as Sharma Yadav, a house painter, and had worked at victim’s house few days back. The incident took place around 8.30 pm on Sunday. The accused allegedly lured the victim with chocolates and biscuits. The girl child was admitted to a local hospital but later doctors referred her to another hospital in New Delhi for further treatment.
Telangana government is exploring the possibilities of reorganisation of Waqf Board and formation of a 3-member committee. Following stay by High Court on the appointment orders of Special Officers Waqf Board, Telangana government is trying to get relief against the High Court order.
Livid after he was denied the honour of handing over the World Cup winners’ trophy, Mustafa Kamal today resigned as ICC President to protest what he called a constitutional violation by the governing body.
“I am just sending my resignation to the ICC…I was not allowed to work in line with the ICC constitution and I cannot work with them beyond the ICC constitution,” he told a crowded press conference at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here today.
An unskilled labourer was killed by the grandson of a retired army Major in the Katra Wazir Khan locality here late Tuesday evening over a payment of a paltry Rs.100.
An infuriated mob pelted stones, torched two motorcycles and damaged property, forcing Etmauddaula police station personnel to fire rubber bullets to disperse the mob.
Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh D Modak tried to persuade the violent mob to exercise restraint, but hundreds of Dalits, family members and relatives of the worker, identified as 40-year-old Pappu, were in no mood to relent.
In a shocking incident, an 18-year-old girl student in a residential school here was shot dead on late Tuesday night by an office attendant for allegedly spurning his advances.
The incident took place at Pragathi school where the accused, Mahesh, allegedly opened fire at the victim, Gauthami, who was studying in Class XII.
He allegedly went to her hostel room at around 11 pm and opened fire at her when she opened the door.
A friend of the girl has also been injured in the incident.
The deceased, who hailed from Pavagada in Tumakuru district, was staying in the hostel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday extended birthday wishes to Vice-President Hamid Ansari and prayed for his long life.
Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter for extending his wishes.
“Birthday greetings to Shri Hamid Ansari ji. I pray for his long life and good health,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted.
Days after advocating a nationwide ban on cow slaughter, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday asked BSF jawans deployed along the Indo-Bangla border to put a complete halt to smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh so that people there give up eating beef.
“I am told prices of beef in Bangladesh have gone up by 30 percent recently due to heightened vigil by BSF against cattle smuggling.
The Palestinian Authority has become a member of the International Criminal Court and is marking the momentous occasion with a low-key ceremony at the court’s headquarters.
Palestinians signed the court’s founding treaty in January and it came into force today, an event welcomed by activists who see it as an opportunity to bring accountability to years of conflict between Palestinians and Israel.
Israel is not a member of the ICC, but the country’s military and civilian leaders could now face charges if they are believed to have committed crimes on Palestinian territory.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visiting the Unesco headquarters on April 10 to meet its director general Irina Bokova and address various issues, a statement said on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Modi will address the diplomatic community, private sector representatives, Unesco staff, and leading personalities, including Unesco’s Paris-based goodwill ambassadors.
During the meeting, they will discuss cooperation between Unescco and India, which has been an active member of the organisation since its creation in 1946, a statement said.
An 18-year-old girl was gunned down and her friend injured by an attender of a private college after storming into their hostel room here.
The man, identified as Mahesh, last night barged into the hostel room on the third floor in which the two girls, studying second year Pre-University course (standard 12) in Pragathi college at Kadugodi on city outskirts, were residing and fired, killing Gautami instantly and injuring her friend, Bengaluru Police Commissioner M N Reddi told reporters.
The injured girl is “out of danger” and is being treated at a private hospital here, he said.
Waking up at the last moment, over 250 companies including Adani Power, Adani Ports, Essar Oil and GVK Power on Tuesday appointed women directors to meet the Sebi deadline of midnight tonight for having at least one female member on their boards.
The companies have, however, mostly appointed wives or daugthers of their promoters or top executives, while some have also replaced their independent directors with their female family members, mainly wives, daughters or sisters.
In what could disappoint many who pop paracetamol pills regularly for lower back pain, researchers have found that this common over-the-counter drug is not effective in the treatment of spinal pain and provides negligible benefits for osteoarthritis.
The study that “re-opened the debate on the effectiveness and safety of paracetamol” showed that for lower back pain, paracetamol had no effect and did not reduce disability or improve quality of life compared with the use of a placebo.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) criticised the Gujarat government in its audit report tabled in the Gujarat Assembly today, for not maintaining teaching staff in schools run by it, resulting in children dropping out of these schools.
In the CAG’s compliance audit of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme in Gujarat for the year 2013-14, the CAG stated that out of 43,176 government-run schools in the state, 64 schools having 5,698 students run without any teacher. Further, 874 schools function with merely one taecher as on March 2014.
Maharashtra Government today said a complete loan waiver for farmers is not possible but it is looking at the possibility of restructuring cooperative crop loans to provide relief to distressed agriculturalists, who are facing losses due to natural calamities.
“From February 28 to March 3, about 7.90 lakh hectares of farmland had been affected due to drought and hailstorm in 30 districts. Of this, crops on 2.53 lakh hectares had been affected more than 50 per cent.
The Opposition BJP today accused the government of evading replies to key issues raised by them regarding Health and Education sector and staged two walkouts from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly today.
The BJP members raised the issue of location of central university in Kangra and outcome of inquiries against principals and also moved a cut motion on poor health services in the state which was defeated by a voice vote.
The government on Wednesday said that an Indian Air Force transport aircraft has reached Djibouti to bring back Indians who are on way to the African nation after they were evacuated from neighbouring strife-torn Yemen.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that that while an IAF C-17 Globemaster has reached Djibouti, another plane will reach there soon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visiting the Unesco headquarters on April 10 to meet its director general Irina Bokova and address various issues, a statement said on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Modi will address the diplomatic community, private sector representatives, Unesco staff, and leading personalities, including Unesco’s Paris-based goodwill ambassadors.
During the meeting, they will discuss cooperation between Unescco and India, which has been an active member of the organisation since its creation in 1946, a statement said.
Maoists abducted and killed a landless farmer in Bihar’s Aurangabad district after suspecting him to be a police spy, police said on Wednesday.
The victim was identified as Mukhtiyar Bhuyan of Chalidhor village, about 120 km from here. His body was found in a field on Wednesday.
Bhuyan was allegedly repeatedly threatened by Maoists.
–IANS