Visa problem stops Tanvir from playing for Surrey

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Karachi, August 07: Pakistan fast bowler Sohail Tanvir was disappointed after his much touted deal with the English county side Surrey failed to materialise apparently due to visa problems.

Tanvir, who was dropped from the Pakistan team for ODI series in Sri Lanka following a poor show in the Twenty20 World Cup in England, was supposed to play for Surrey for rest of the season for a reported deal worth 75,000 pounds.

“Yes I didn`t get the required work permit and visa on time so the contract has fallen through. It is very disappointing to me,” Tanvir said.

Four students in Assam suspended for ragging

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Guwahati, August 07: Four postgraduate students including two girls were suspended for allegedly ragging juniors at Dibrugarh University in Assam, officials said Friday.

A university spokesperson said the decision to suspend was taken after three first-semester girl students of Political Science Thursday lodged a written complaint with the vice chancellor alleging that four senior students had ‘mentally tortured’ them by asking obscene questions.

Economy starts moving slightly: Pranab

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New Delhi, August 07: Economy has started moving upward due to two stimulus packages in the last fiscal, but scanty rainfall this year may play a spoilsport, government told the Lok Sabha on Friday.

“The economy has started moving slightly, but still I am not quite sure because other problems may come from adverse impact of scanty rainfall,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said during the Question Hour.

Ruslaan-Sheena shoot lovemaking scene thrice

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Mumbai, August 07: Satish Kaushik’s film on teen pregnancy Teree Sang featuring Ruslaan Mumtaz and debutante Sheena Shahabadi as teenagers, who became parents after having unprotected sex, was stalled for a number of reasons.

One among the many reasons is the crucial lovemaking scene where the girl gets pregnant. When the director saw the decisive sequence he felt it lacked the impact it should. Says Satish, “The girl Sheena was inexperienced in that sequence, and it showed. We needed to scrap and re-shoot the scene.”

Delhi has paid over Rs.200 crore for Himachal dam: Dhumal

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Shimla, August 07: The Delhi government has provided Rs.214.83 crore to Himachal Pradesh for a hydroelectric project that will provide drinking water to the national capital, Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has said.

‘The Delhi government has deposited Rs.214.83 crore with Himachal Pradesh for the construction of the Renuka Dam (in Sirmaur district), that will provide drinking water to Delhi,’ Dhumal told the state assembly Thursday.

BCCI argument has weak legs to stand on

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New Delhi, August 07: Apropos the Indian Cricket Board’s refusal to comply with the new Wada code on random dope-tests, there can be no issue with the protest per se. That right is vested in every association, every player and could be crucial in helping reaching a conclusion about a ruling that is, all said and done, contentious. But the logic of the argument should not be silly or specious.

IPL cannot make up for Ashes pleasure: Flintoff

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Leeds, August 07: Star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff rates the Ashes rivalry against Australia as the ultimate for an Englishman, which could not be compensated by playing in any number of IPL or World Cup matches.

“The Ashes is like nothing else. You can have your World Cups and IPLs, but as an Englishman, to be able to play in the Ashes is the ultimate,” said Flinotff, who has decided to prematurely quit Test cricket after the series owing to his recurring injury worries.

Many schools choose to shut down

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Pune, August 07: Over half a dozen schools in the city have decided to shut down till August 10, though none of their students were tested positive for swine flu. The step, they said, is either precautionary or for fumigation purposes. Many others have cancelled their exams and other programmes.

The Army Public School near the racecourse has issued a circular saying the school will remain closed till Monday and advised parents to keep their wards at home in case he/she is suffering from fever, cold, cough or running nose.

Senior Andhra cop’s family to be quizzed on constable’s death

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Bhopal, August 07:A police team from Madhya Pradesh will leave for New Delhi Saturday to quiz the family members of Andhra Pradesh anti-terror unit chief Vivek Dubey in connection with the mysterious death of a constable of the southern state’s armed reserve, official sources here said Friday.
Muralinath, 42, was found dead by the roadside in Jaitpur village in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh July 30.

Shahid-Priyanka check out Kareena’s boyfriend

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Mumbai, August 07: Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra made sure that the rumourmongers have a field day by watching Love Aaj Kal together. They couldn’t make out whether they were watching the film to check out Kareena Kapoor’s boyfriend Saif Ali Khan in the film or just trying to have good time as couple.

Kasab throws jail food into bin, wants biryani

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Mumbai, August 07: It may be difficult to say whether Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, being tried in the 26/11 terror attacks case, is a terrorist of taste or tantrums. The Arthur Road prison authorities on Thursday complained to special judge ML Tahaliyani that Kasab on Wednesday refused to eat the food given to him and threw it into the dust bin.

Bank strike notice greets MPs

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New Delhi, August 07:They walked up to the bank and were greeted by a shutdown notice. Many parliamentarians Friday got a taste of the hardship caused by a two-day nationwide bank strike.

Friday being the last day of the second session of the 15th Lok Sabha, the MPs and the ministers, before going back to their constituencies, went to the State Bank of India, Parliament House branch, to clear their transactions.

Zaheer ruled out of Champions Trophy

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New Delhi, August 07: Indian pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is certain to miss the upcoming Champions Trophy that is scheduled to take place in September.

Zaheer, who had a major shoulder surgery last month, is highly unlikely to make it to the Indian squad for the Champions Trophy.

Reports also suggest that he could miss the November-December’s seven-match ODI home series against Australia.

Zaheer picked up his injury while playing in the Indian Premier League in South Africa in the month of April.

Buddha Garden rape case verdict deferred

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New Delhi, August 07:A city court Friday deferred the verdict in the sensational Buddha Jayanti Park gang rape case of 2003, in which four members of the President’s Bodyguard are the accused, to Aug 13.

On July 31, Additional Sessions Judge S.K. Sarvaria had deferred the verdict till Aug7.

According to the prosecution, the victim had gone with her friend Ashish to the park near the Rashtrapati Bhavan Oct 6, 2003 and was raped by Harpreet and Satendra while Kuldeep and Manish kept guard.

India create history in world volleyball

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Pune, August 07: India created history, entering the semifinals of the men’s Junior Volleyball World Championship for the first time, beating Belgium 3-2 in a keenly contested match at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi on Thursday night.

Easily distracted? You could have low memory capacity

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Washington, August 07: “That blasted siren. I can’t focus.” That reaction to an undesired distraction may signal a person’s low working-memory capacity, according to a new study.

Based on a study of 84 students divided into four separate experiments, University of Oregon (UO) researchers found that students with high memory storage capacity were clearly better able to ignore distractions and stay focussed on their assigned tasks.

Interpol: Global alert for 13 in Mumbai attacks

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France, August 07: Interpol says it has issued a global alert for 13 suspects wanted by Pakistan in its investigation into the November attacks on hotels in Mumbai, India, that killed 166 people.

An Interpol statement issued Thursday says the alert went out from its Islamabad office to the organization’s 186 other members.

Gaddafi meets King’s emissary

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Dubai, August 07: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi held talks in Tripoli with Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz, who was sent by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, as his personal envoy, according to a news report telecast by Al-Arabiya satellite news channel Thursday.

Gaddafi and King Abdullah had earlier held talks on the sidelines of the deliberations of the Arab summit held in Doha last March.

–Agencies-

Social stress makes you fat

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Washington, August 07: Social stress could lead to heart disease by causing the body to deposit more fat in the abdominal cavity and could also speed up harmful plaque build-up in blood vessels, according to new research.

In this study, female monkeys were fed a western-style diet containing fat and cholesterol. The monkeys were housed in groups so they would naturally establish a pecking order from dominant to subordinate.

Subordinate monkeys are often the target of aggression and aren’t included in group grooming sessions as often as dominant monkeys.

Genelia refuses to party with Fardeen, Tusshar

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Mumbai, August 07: Genelia D’Souza is definitely a home bird and she proved it to all by recently turning down Fardeen Khan and Tusshar Kapoor’s request to celebrate her birthday yesterday, with them.

The film producers from Studio 18 got a cake for her at Mehboob Studio on Tuesday night as Wednesday happened to be her birthday. Abbas Mustan, Rumi Jaffrey, co-stars Fardeen, Tusshar and Prachi Desai were all present and they insisted on celebrating her birthday in a grand style with a party.

12-year-old girl latest swine flu fatality in KSA

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Riyadh, August 07: A Saudi special needs girl has died from swine flu, pushing the Kingdom’s A-H1N1 death toll to seven, the Health Ministry announced Thursday.

The 12-year-old girl, who died Wednesday two days after being admitted to a hospital in Al-Hasa, was suffering from an underdeveloped central nervous system, the ministry said in a statement.

The girl was suffering from acute chest problems, high temperature and acute lung inflammation. She was also infected with the A-H1N1 virus, the statement said.

Scientists in US decode HIV genome structure

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Paris, August 07: Scientists in the United States have decoded the overall structure of the HIV virus genome that causes AIDS in humans, according to a study published Thursday.
The breakthrough should help develop strategies for combating the virus with new anti-viral drugs, the researchers said.

“We are beginning to understand tricks the genome uses to help the virus escape detection by the human host,” said Kevin Weeks, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the study’s main architect.

Most endangered vulture breed ready to fledge

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New Delhi, August 07: One of the world’s best conservation stories is being scripted at a wildlife Centre in Haryana’s Pinjore, where a slender-billed vulture nestling, a rare species, has for the first time hatched in captivity and is ready to fledge.

–Agencies

Students to get extra marks for planting saplings

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Bhopal, August 07: Students of classes 5 to 9 in schools run by the Catholic church in Madhya Pradesh will now get extra marks in their examinations if they plant saplings and take care of them.

The programme, christened ‘Matra Chhaya’, has been launched in all the 50 districts of the state, the programme’s director Anand Muttungal told IANS, adding that it will be part of environmental studies.

US-led blitz kills famers in Afghanistan

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Kabul, August 07: In the latest incident of civilian deaths at the hand of foreign forces in Afghanistan, a US-led air raid has killed at least five farmers in the country’s troubled south.

District police chief Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi said the airstrike killed five farmers as they moved produce from rural Zhari to the city of Kandahar.

“The farmers were loading cucumbers on a truck when the American forces hit them from their aircraft.”

A US military spokeswoman in Kabul also confirmed the attack, but said the men were militants spotted loading weapons on a truck.