News Kvartha

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) India will increase imports of crude oil from Africa and Latin American countries to reduce dependence on Gulf countries, especially Iran which is facing sanctions from the US and the European countries, a senior government official said Wednesday. "We have started diversifying crude oil purchases. Earlier, all our crude oil imports were from Gulf, now only 60 percent comes from Gulf countries," said A.R. Ghanshyam, joint secretary (Gulf) in the external affairs ministry. He said crude oil imports from Africa and Latin American countries especially from Venezuela have increased sharply in the recent years. Saudi Arabia is the biggest supplier of crude oil to India followed by Iran. Although imports from Saudi Arabia has remained steady at around 27 million metric tonne per year, oil purchases from Iran have gone down in the last couple of years. Imports from Iran fell to 18.5 million metric tonnes in 2010-11 as compared to 21.19 million metric tonne...

Bangalore, Feb 29 (IANS) Global chip maker Intel Corporation Wednesday unveiled an outreach programme to groom future scientists in India as the next generation of innovators. "The Intel Future Scientist programme has been drawn in India to help science teachers prepare curricula for fostering a spirit of research and innovation in students," Intel India president Praveen Vishakantaiah said in a statement here. The programme will promote inquiry-based learning as an integral part of science education and help teachers develop critical thinking skills in students. "We plan to reach about 50,000 students across the country through social organisations for developing skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through curricula, competitions and online educational resources," Vishakantaiah said. The programme consists of seven modules to train students in inquiry-based learning and facilitate scientific inquiry from classroom to lab. "We aim to ra...

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) In a major boost to the healthcare sector, total government expenditure on health would be increased to 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2017, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Wednesday. The decision was taken in a meeting held in the PMO on the government's priorities in health sector, particularly over the next five years. "The meeting decided that we must work towards increasing the total government health expenditure to 2.5 percent of GDP by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) from current 1.4 percent. The Planning Commission was requested to allocate adequate resources to achieve the target," said an official statement. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has emphasised the need for increased outlay on health sector during Twelfth Plan so that adequate funds are made available for the sector, the statement further said. "There is a need to create adequate capacity at the centre and the states to meaningful...

Mumbai, Feb 29 (IANS) Actor Tusshar Kapoor says Ajay Devgn is his lucky charm and that's why he roped him in to do the voiceover in his forthcoming movie "Chaar Din Ki Chandni." "Yes, definitely, he is my lucky charm. We have done five films, of which four have been hit. I hope that even this film does well as he has done a voiceover for us in the film," Tusshar, who has worked with Ajay in "Khakee" and "Golmaal" franchise, said at an event here. Tusshar developed a strong bonding with Ajay during the shoot of the "Golmaal" franchise. "Our bonding strengthened as we have done so many films together, Kareena Kapoor, him and me have done three films together. It's the same unit, same director, same set-up, same series. We do things together during shooting, so a friendship and a comfort level has developed. We chat together when the shoot is not on. We share a great professional relationship," he said. Directed by Samir...

Mumbai, Feb 29 (IANS) The scrip of state-owned exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Wednesday soared on the back of the government's approval to sell five percent stake in the company through a one-day auction slated for March 1. The company's scrip at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) jumped 5.23 percent to hit an intra-day high of Rs.298.40 a share before slipping to Rs.293.90 at 3 p.m. The company said in a regulatory filing to BSE that 427,774,504 equity shares would be on sale March 1 starting at 9:15 a.m. and closing at 3:30 p.m. on the same day (Thursday) with a floor price of Rs.290 per share. Post-auction, the government's share in the company will come down to 69.14 percent. An empowered group of ministers (eGoM) led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had Tuesday approved the stake sale of the energy explorer after a gap of nearly nine months when it offloaded five percent stake in Power Finance Corp garnering Rs.1,145 crore. The ONGC stake sale is e...

Mumbai, Feb 29 (IANS) Virender Sehwag was "rested" while Sachin Tendulkar was retained in the 15-member India squad for the Asia Cup in Bangladesh beginning March 11. Virat Kohli was named vice captain. Fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav were also given a break. Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda and explosive batsman Yusuf Pathan made a comeback into the national side. The squad was announced after a meeting of the selection committee here Wednesday. In-form batsman Kohli was named Mahendra Singh Dhoni's deputy for the tournament involving Pakistan, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh. The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wicketkeeper), Virat Kohli (vice captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Rahul Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda.

London, Feb 29 (IANS) A new asteroid, identified by NASA, could potentially hit the earth Feb 5, 2040, even though it is much smaller than the one -- nine miles across -- which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The UN Action Team on near-Earth objects, which has taken note of the 460-ft asteroid, placed the odds of its hitting the earth at one-in-625, though that could change nearer the time. Scientists have not yet been able to work out much more about it than its size as they have only been able to observe it for half its orbit. But between 2013 and 2016 they will be able to monitor from the ground and will make a more detailed assessment. In 2023 the rock will make a 'keyhole pass' of Earth, which is an area it passes through on the orbit before it would hit Earth. This will be within a mere 0.02 astronomical units of our planet, or 1.86 million miles, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. NASA's infrared sky-scans track space objects such as asteroid...

By Sheikh Qayoom  Srinagar, Feb 29 (IANS) Have India and Pakistan decided to freeze the Kashmir dispute for 10 years and move ahead on improving relations with each other? A hot debate is doing the rounds in Jammu and Kashmir these days, with the common man saying peace and the unique Kashmiri identity should be prime considerations in any such move. Media reports carried in some local and national newspapers recently suggest that through backchannel diplomacy the two countries have decided to freeze the contentious Kashmir issue for a decade. Even the separatist camp is agog with rumours that there could be some truth in these reports. "How can the dispute be relegated to the backburner? It is the main dispute between India and Pakistan since its causes are rooted in history. Forward movement would always be dicey unless the political aspirations of Kashmiris are met," said a senior separatist leader who did not want to be named. Hardline senior separatist leader ...

Los Angeles, Feb 29 (IANS) A collection of 15 Oscar statuettes which were handed out to recipients, including the writer for "Citizen Kane", fetched more than $3 million at an auction here Tuesday, two days after the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. A statuette which was won by Herman Mankiewicz for penning the script for the 1941 best screenplay winner "Citizen Kane", grossed $588,455, the highest bid at the event held by Beverly Hills-based auctioneer Nate D. Sanders, according to the auction house. The record number of gold statuettes which were sold out included those awarded for such classics as "How Green Was My Valley" and "Wuthering Heights", reported Xinhua. The statuettes, each 34 cm tall and weighing 3.85 kg, were bestowed upon the moviemakers of winning films and works before 1950, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reached an agreement with winners which bars them and their heirs from selling the statuettes without f...

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) In an effort to strengthen scientific and technological engagements with the African Union, India is hosting the first India-Africa science and technology ministers conference in the capital from Thursday. The two-day conference to be held at Vigyan Bhawan will see participation of 31 African ministers and 103 delegates besides people from the industry. "The main aim of the conference is to see how we can strengthen our scientific and technological engagements with Africa after all we both are developing countries looking towards modern democratic processes," Gurjit Singh, additional secretary (Eastern and Southern Africa), ministry of external Affairs, told IANS. Several Indian institutions excelling in the field of research and development in science and technology will also take part in the conference. There will be sessions on science and technology programmes and policies in India and Africa Union and round table sessions to discuss -- ...

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) India's economy has logged its slowest pace of quarterly expansion in three years with gross domestic product (GDP) rising by a mere 6.1 percent in the quarter ended December, official data showed Wednesday. The economy had grown 8.3 percent in the previous corresponding period. Higher interest rates, rising inflation, the global economic turmoil rubbing off on the country and a slew of policy issues curbing investment sentiment has contributed to the economy's dismal performance. This is the seventh consecutive time that quarterly growth has slipped. It had risen by 6.9 percent in the quarter ending September and 7.7 percent in the three-month period before that. Manufacturing was hit hard, logging a meagre 0.4 percent growth in the quarter under review, compared to 7.8 percent in the previous corresponding period, according to data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation. Mining was another sector hit badly and contracted...

London, Feb 29 (IANS) London Mayor Boris Johnson launched giant Olympic rings measuring 11 meters high and 25 meters wide on the River Thames, to mark 150 days until the start of 2012 Olympics. The mayor also announced that the city will host a specially commissioned programme of free cultural events to celebrate the Olympics and Paralympics and create "a summer like no other". "From museums to theatre, and music to design, we have a reputation that is second to none and London's finest artists and organisations are producing an exceptional range of brand new cultural events that will add to the excitement of hosting the Games," Boris Johnson was quoted as saying by Xinhua. The London Olympics will be held July 27-Aug 12. Elsewhere, on the eve of the 150-day countdown, the British Olympic Association (BOA) announced plans for an Olympic Museum to be built on the future Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP) as a permanent legacy of the London Games. The proposals...

Washington, Feb 29 (IANS) The destruction of vegetation is driving the Sumatran tiger to the brink of extinction, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) researchers say. The Sumatran tiger, native to Indonesia, could be the fourth type of tiger to disappear from the wild thanks to deforestation and the loss of thick groundcover, also known as understory cover, said Sunarto, a WWF tigert expert, who led the study, the first to investigate the use of both forests and plantation areas for tiger habitat. Although tiger's prefer forest to plantation areas, the study found that the most important factor was that availability of thick ground-level vegetation which apparently serves as an environmental necessity for tiger habitat, regardless of location, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reported. "As ambush hunters, tigers would find it hard to capture their prey without adequate understory cover," said Sunarto, who earned his doctorate at Virginia Tech and now is a tiger expert fo...

Hyderabad, Feb 29 (IANS) A year after three villagers died in police firing on a group opposing an upcoming thermal power project, the struggle by people of Kakrapalli in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district is still on. The relay hunger strike by the villagers demanding scrapping of the project entered its 564th day Wednesday while protestors also unveiled a memorial as a mark of tribute to those who died in the police firing Feb 28 last year. "We will not settle for anything less than scrapping of the project as it is not only poses a threat to the ecology but also endangers the livelihood of fishermen and farmers," M. Narsingh Rao, a member of the Navalapadu thermal power Vytherka Porata Samithi, which is spearheading the anti-project protest, told IANS over phone from the north coastal Andhra region. While waging a legal battle, the Samithi is continuing with the protest. Hundreds attended a meeting it organised Tuesday to pay tributes to those who died in police fi...

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed all petitions seeking quashing of the state election commission's decision to reserve seats for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections in April. A group of councillors belonging to both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress had moved the court challenging the earmarking of seats as reserved for SCs. But a division bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Rajiv Shakdher said: "We do not find any merit in the petitions, they are dismissed." The court declined the contentions of the petitioner that questioned the delegation of power by the Delhi government to the state election commission for issuing the Jan 27 notification. The bench observed that this was not unconstitutional. The bench also upheld the decision of the state election commission to reserve seats for SC candidates on the basis of the 2001 census. The petitioners had contended that t...

Shillong, Feb 29 (IANS) The Meghalaya cabinet has approved a comprehensive policy to pay compensation to victims of rape and human trafficking, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said Wednesday. "Rape victims in Meghalaya will now be eligible for compensation of up to Rs.50,000 after the cabinet approved a proposal to establish the Meghalaya Victim Compensation Scheme," Sangma said. The cabinet met Tuesday night. Apart from victims of rape, the chief minister said women and children who are victims of human trafficking or who suffer injury or mental agony would be entitled to compensation of up to Rs.25,000. The Meghalaya Victim Compensation Scheme for rape and human trafficking victims is to ensure that those who suffer severe mental trauma and grievous injuries get financial aid from the state. "The scheme is mandatory for the state government in accordance with Section 357(A) provided under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Victims will have to file complaints before the ...

Wellington, Feb 29 (IANS) New Zealand is aiming to eradicate smoking across the country by 2025, and health researchers have said the government needs to set a date to end commercial sale of tobacco in order to achieve that goal. In an article published in the international Tobacco Control journal, researchers from the University of Otago said "clear goals" and "detailed planning" were critical to achieve the government's aim. "Research indicates that incremental efforts are not enough to reduce smoking to near zero by 2025. This is the case in New Zealand, where smoking has declined very slowly in the last two decades, and over 20 percent of the adult population still smokes," Xinhua quoted lead author George Thomson as saying in a statement. The pre-conditions for a "realistic tobacco end-game plan" included banning donations to political parties by tobacco companies and their allies and agents. "Any preventable deaths, let alone the ...

By Arun Kumar  Washington, Feb 29 (IANS) An India-US project to help create a market for cleaner-burning cookstoves in developing countries is having a "tremendous payoff" beyond the headlines, according to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. "It's one of those, you know, long-term projects that I think has tremendous payoff. But it's not in the headlines," she told a Senate panel Tuesday when asked about the initiative's impact in India. "We are actively driving an initiative we helped to put together called the global cookstove alliance - or the alliance for global cookstoves," Clinton said. "We are working with dozens of other countries, with the United Nations and organizations to help create a market for cleaner- burning cookstoves in developing countries, because this has tremendous benefits," she said. The US, Clinton said, was also "working with some Indian universities that are actually taking measurements of the poll...

Nairobi, Feb 29 (IANS) Kenyan midfielder Macdonald Mariga, who plays for Italian club Parma, has withdrawn from the national team's match against Togo in the 2013 Africa Nations Cup qualifier match here Wednesday over non-payment of dues. The player failed to convince the federation to offset his air tickets dues of $16,000 which have been accruing since last year. Football Kenya Federation (FKF) chief Executive Ludovick Aduda however, said it was wrong for the Serie A player to turn his back on the national team since he was not the only one yet to be paid his dues. "There are other players, who ply their trade abroad that have not been paid and they have not withdrawn from the team. He should be patriotic and agree to play. At the end they will all be paid," Aduda was quoted as saying by Xinhua Tuesday. Mariga had Monday vowed not to play unless he was refunded back the money owed to him but it became apparent that the federation owes many more players who have used th...

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) After two successful films, Pakistani singer-actor Ali Zafar is back in action with his new romantic movie "London Paris New York" with actress Aditi Rao Hydari that releases Friday. Directed by debutant Anu Menon, the film puts spotlight on the angst of the 20s, a life altering period when one has to find a career, form an identity and experience the charms of falling in love for the first time. It is a story about Lalitha (Aditi), a middle-class South Indian girl from Chembur in Mumbai, who is on her way to New York to study politics on a scholarship. She makes a detour to London, where she meets Nikhil (Ali), a rich Punjabi kid from Bandra, who is to study filmmaking in London. They meet in London and realise they are completely drawn to each other though they know their future lies on two different continents. The film follows their personal journey as they keep meeting in London, Paris and New York. The three cities give a dramatic canvas to cr...

Bankura (West Bengal), Feb 29 (IANS) In another incident of rape in West Bengal, a physically challenged woman was allegedly raped by a junior doctor in a government hospital in Bankura district, police said Wednesday. "We have received a complaint that a deaf and mute woman was raped by a junior doctor of Bankura Sammilani Medical College. The victim was medical examined locally and we are taking her to Kolkata for another medical test," Bankura Superintendent of Police Pranav Kumar said. The clothes of the victim and the bedsheets have also been sent for examination. The 19-year-old girl was found lying naked in an unconscious state in the medicine department of the hospital in Bankura, about 150 km from the state capital, where she was admitted Monday night for chest pain. Following a complaint by the victim's family, the hospital has constituted a three member committee to look into the allegations. "We have received a complaint in this regard. It is learnt that...

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) Ram Gopal Varma's past few projects have failed to rock the box office, but actor Rana Daggubati, who has teamed up with the director in "Department", is confident that the film will turn out to be one of his most stylish movies. "Ramu (Varma) dabbles in a lot of genres of films. He is very good with his work, and has a wonderful storytelling pattern, which is most often trendsetting. His film 'Satya' broke stereotype, and 'Company' gave Vivek Oberoi such a great launchpad...I think 'Department' will be one of his most stylish film ever shot," Rana told IANS. In "Department", the southern star will be seen as a grungy policeman - a role that was earlier reserved for Abhishek Bachchan. The film's characters include a don, a gangster, a gangster-turned-politician, and shootout specialists. No wonder it was exciting for Rana to work in it! "I think Ramu is one filmmaker who has complete und...

London, Feb 29 (IANS) Driverless tube trains should be introduced in the next few years to reduce the power of union bosses, London Mayor Boris Johnson has said. Johnson wants to enforce the radical overhaul in the biggest battle yet for control of the London Underground. His plans were announced as he set out his stall in the race for City Hall and a second term of power, the Daily Express reported. London Underground is a rapid transit system in Britain, serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. Johnson believes driverless trains will take away the unions' ability to hold the city to ransom by calling tube drivers' strikes. There have been 23 during his four years in office. Tube trains would instead be staffed by a "train captain" -- like the Docklands Light Railway -- where a worker monitors safety. He said: "I want to stress that in making these reforms, I believe it's going to be possible to work...

Mumbai, Feb 29 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian markets Wednesday was ruling in the green, but slipped after managing to cross the 18,000 level. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,919.93 points, was ruling at 17,925.28 points around noon, 194.16 points or 1.1 percent up from its previous close at 17,731.12 points. The Sensex rose to an intra-day high of 18,001.35 in early trade. The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also trading higher at 5,431.55 points, up 56.05 points or 1.04 percent from its previous close. Broader markets were also in the green, with the BSE 500 index trading 1.04 percent higher. The BSE midcap index was up 1.13 percent while the BSE smallcap index was ruling 0.95 percent higher. Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, energy, PSU, realty and consumer durables were among major gainers. All 13 indices were in the green. Prominent gainers on the 30-scrip Sensex included ONGC, R...

Washington, Feb 29 (IANS) US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has reiterated that the responsibility to reduce the budgetary deficit cannot be borne by the defence sector alone. "No budget can be balanced on the back of discretionary spending alone," he said at a Senate Budget Committee hearing Tuesday. "Based on my own budget experience, I strongly believe that all areas of the federal budget must be put on the table -- not just discretionary, but mandatory spending and revenues." Panetta detailed US President Barack Obama's fiscal 2013 defence budget request -- $525.4 billion for the base budget and $88.5 billion for overseas contingency operations, reported Xinhua. The budget blueprint puts the department on the road to reduce spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years. It does not, however, account for more than $500 billion in additional cuts that will go into effect in January if Congress doesn't act to stop it. Those additional cuts, known as ...

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) Hollywood trainer Ed Chow, who trained celebrities like Clive Owen and Lucas Till, says he would love to work with Farhan Akhtar, who has been training hard for his next film "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag". "I was really lucky to meet Aishwarya Rai when she was working on 'The Last Legion' with Colin Firth. There are actors like Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor and Sara Khan. And I'd like to work with Farhan Akhtar - I've seen some of his work and I really liked it," Chow said in an e-mail interaction. "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" is a biopic on legendary athlete Milkha Singh and Farhan is currently undergoing special training for his lead role in the movie. Similarly American actress Lynn Collins had to go through a fixed regime for her role as Dejah Thoris in "John Carter", releasing in India March 9. "John Carter" is about a man who gets transported to Mars and gets caught between 12-foot-tall barbarians. C...

Washington, Feb 29 (IANS) NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen says violence in Afghanistan would not affect the planned transition of security responsibility to the country's forces. Addressing a press conference in Washington, the secretary general denounced the recent killing of US servicemen by Afghans in violence that erupted over the burning of copies of Quran by American soldiers. "The very tragic events will not in any way affect the timeline of transition" for transfering security tasks from coalition to Afghan forces, he said. "I remind you that 130,000 ISAF troops work on a daily basis together with more than 300,000 Afghan security forces, and the overall picture is of cooperation characterized by trust and confidence," Xinhua quoted him as saying. In addition to fighting the insurgency in Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is helping train Afghan military and police to make way for its eventual withdrawal from the countr...

Thrissur (Kerala), Feb 29 (IANS) Thanks to a verdict by a Lok Adalat in Kerala, an elderly casual labourer and his wife have won the right to collect their deceased son's semen from an infertility clinic and use it to have a surrogate child. Ravi Kumar, 59, a casual labourer, and his 58-year-old wife Karthiyayani from Thrissur are overjoyed with the verdict. They have even found a woman who is willing to become a surrogate mother. The couple had a son, Ratheesh, who was a student of sound engineering in Bangalore when he was diagnosed with a tumour in his testes. While he was being treated, doctors advised that his semen be collected and stored for further use. And that's what he did. Ratheesh passed away at the age of 28 last year after contracting pneumonia. "When we approached the infertility clinic requesting them to hand over our son's semen, they said they can give it only if a court gives a ruling to this effect," said Kumar. Now the Lok Adalat in Kochi, ...

Mexico City, Feb 29 (IANS) Frenchman Gilles Simon crashed out of the Mexican Open tennis tournament, losing in the first round to Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-7 (5), 3-6. The world number 13, playing a man ranked 31 places below him, struggled with his serve during the two-and-a-half hour match Tuesday. He won just nine of 25 second serve points while Berlocq was able to convert five of 11 break points to seal victory, Xinhua reported. Berlocq, had just last week beaten Simon in the second round of Buenos Aires Open. The 29-year-old Berlocq will meet Italian Potito Starace who eliminated his counterpart Alessandro Giannessi 6-2, 7-5.

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed all petitions seeking quashing of the Delhi Election Commission's decision to reserve seats for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections in April. A group of councillors belonging to both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress had moved court challenging the earmarking of seats as reserved for SCs. The petitioners had contended that the poll commission's notification was "arbitrary, malafide and without any logic" as it had reserved seats for SCs on the basis of the 2001 census and not the recent 2011 census.

Guatemala City, Feb 29 ( IANS/EFE) Eight people were killed Tuesday when an army helicopter crashed in the jungles of northern Guatemala while on a humanitarian mission, the military said. The chopper, a US-made UH1H, went down in a village near the municipality of San Luis Peten, an army spokesperson told reporters. The UH1H took off from an airbase in Guatemala City bound for Northern Air Command headquarters in Santa Elena Peten, but changed course en route to aid the occupants of a civilian helicopter that crashed in Livingston, a town in the Caribbean province of Izabal, the spokesperson said. Officials suspect the accident occurred as the pilot, Lt. Everardo Portillo, was in the process of diverting to Livingston. The pilot and two other people aboard the civilian chopper were badly injured in the initial wreck, authorities said.

Washington, Feb 29 (IANS) Cold air is bad for heart patients, especially when they are undertaking physical activity, because they are unable to cope with the higher oxygen demanded by the body. "This study can help us understand why cold air is such a trigger for coronary events," said Lawrence I. Sinoway, professor of medicine and director of the Heart and Vascular Institute, Penn State College of Medicine. Breathing cold air during exercise can cause uneven oxygen distribution throughout the heart. But a healthy body generally corrects for this problem and redistributes blood flow, making sure the heart continues to function properly. In people with heart problems, such as coronary artery disease, this may not be the case, said Sinoway, the Journal of Applied Physiology and American Journal of Physiology, Heart and Circulatory Physiology report. "If you are doing some type of isometric work and you're breathing cold air, your heart is doing more work -- it's...

Washington, Feb 29 (IANS/EFE) The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) carried out 15 special inspections last year spurred by potentially serious incidents at power plants, the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a report released Tuesday. A large number of those "near-misses" occurred because plant operators and regulators "either tolerated known problems or failed to address them adequately", the UCS said in "The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2011: Living on Borrowed Time." The report, however, also praises the NRC for instances where regulators "did an outstanding job addressing safety problems before they could lead to a potentially dangerous situation". "Last year's record shows that the NRC is quite capable of being an effective watchdog that protects the public and saves the nuclear industry from its worst tendencies," report author Dave Lochbaum, director of UCS's Nuclear Safety Project, said. "But th...

Beijing, Feb 29 (IANS) Chinese women in urban areas on an average contribute about one-third to their family income, a survey has found. According to the "Blue Paper on Women's Lives", the women's survey in China's 10 cities found women making up an average of 35.8 percent of their family incomes, Xinhua reported. The blue paper was jointly compiled by Women of China, a magazine run by the All-China Women's Federation, Huakun Women's Life Survey Centre and Huakun Women's Consumption Guidance Centre. The survey was carried out in 10,000 households in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Taiyuan, Changsha, Dalian, Chengdu, Lanzhou, Ningbo and Harbin. The average monthly income of the surveyed women amounts to about 4,900 yuan (around $800). The women of Guangzhou, the capital city of south Guangdong province, stood on top, with an average monthly salary of 11,200 yuan, while those from Lanzhou, the capital city of northwest Gansu province, ranked the lowest, ...

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) It was a sunny and pleasant morning in the capital Wednesday as the minimum temperature settled at 11.9 degrees Celsius, average for this time of the season. The met office has forecast a warm and clear day ahead. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the skies will remain clear and the day is likely to get warmer. "The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 27 degrees Celsius," the IMD official added. Humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 80 percent. Tuesday's maximum temperature was 26.4 degrees and the minimum was 12.5 degrees -- both a notch above average for the season.

By Madhusree Chatterjee New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) The message of peace and moderation sets former Pakistan-based politician, activist and motivational speaker Shaykh-ul-Islam Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri apart from other Islamic scholars. He says Islam stands for love and not the killing of mankind. "I have tried to bring up the true teachings of the Quran so that I may stop the means of distortion of the teachings...the extremists are using religion as a tool to achieve ulterior motives. All people belonging to all religions - their lives and places of worship - should be protected," the author of the popular book "Fatwa on Terrorism", told IANS in an interview. "I have quoted from the main juristic schools of Islam or 'Hadith' taught by the great Imams like the hanafis, Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali and from the prophet's Sunnah to prove that Islam stands for love, peace, forbearance, mercy and human dignity." "I have cited hundreds of refer...

Mumbai, Feb 29 (IANS) A week after Bombay High Court orders, the Mumbai Police has lodged a case against former Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh and his family members for corruption. A first information report (FIR) was lodged late Tuesday at the Nirmal Nagar, Khar police station, by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up under the court's directions, in a public interest litigation filed by a social activist Sanjay Tiwari. The court has ordered that the SIT should not base its findings on a July 2011 report of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, which it had rejected. However, the SIT could continue its probe on Tiwari's petition and the bureau's report of March 30, 2011 detailing the assets accumulated by Singh and his family members. Accordingly, the SIT would probe all the movable and immovable assets of Singh and his family, including land, flats, shops, bungalows, commercial premises, vehicles, and bank accounts. Soon after the high court order last week, Singh ...

Kolkata, Feb 27 (IANS) Pledging all-out support to Infosys in establishing its facility in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday said her government would, however, not grant SEZ status to the IT major as her party was in principle opposed to creation of SEZs. "We are against setting up of SEZ. We will remain firm on our stand. We are against forceful land acquisition. We want Infosys to establish its facility in the state. We will help them in all possible ways but I cannot call it SEZ," Banerjee said in an interview telecast on three Bengali news channels. "Because we have made the law that we will not allow SEZ in the state so we cannot twist the law for a specific corporate house. We will give them all help and facilities. If possible, we can also provide them with facilities that they get under the status of SEZ," she said. "But on the question of principle we cannot make an SEZ as we have created a land policy where we have clearly stated t...

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 27 (IANS) The documentation of the temple treasure unearthed at the famed Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple last year began Monday morning with a joint meeting of the two Supreme Court-appointed committees which decided to first document the items in vault C. One committee is headed by M.V.Nair and the other by Justice (retd) M.N. Krishnan. The committees have representatives from the state government, the erstwhile Travancore royal family who are the official custodians of the temple, besides experts in this field. Last week, it was decided to first document the treasures in vaults E and F, but Monday's meeting decided to start with vault C. Speaking to reporters before the documentation process began, Nair said the decision to start the documentation of vault C was taken at Monday's meeting. "The documentation which began last week started with vault E and F and today we decided to stop that and instead take up vault C. Four weeks from now, we have to...

Bangkok, Feb 27 (IANS) Three more Iranian nationals have been detained on suspicion of their involvement in three bombings that rocked Bangkok Feb 14 in which five people were injured. Three Iranians have already been arrested while a woman suspect is at large. The three Iranians were detained Sunday, Xinhua reported Monday citing local media INN. The three suspects -- two men and a woman -- were identified as Madani Seyed Mehrded, Rahimi Rad Iraj and his wife Mahboobh Tasbehi. They all lived in the Naza Vegas building in Watthana district, where fellow Iranian suspect Leila Rohani also lived. Rohani, the woman who rented the house at Sukhumvit 71 road in Soi Pridi Panomyong 31 area, is believed to have fled to Tehran, according to police. Rahimi Rad Iraj worked as a chef at a hotel in the Soi Nana business area, the report said. Mehrded, 33, was detained Sunday when police raided a room in Naza Vegas. Police tracked him by the mobile phone call logs which showed he had regular conta...

New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS) India Monday expressed its objections and surprise at China's protest over Defence Minister A.K. Antony's visit to Arunachal Pradesh and protested against any outside interference in the state. "Arunachal Pradesh is a part and parcel of India. The defence minister is entitled to go anywhere in the country he considers necessary," External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters here. The question of any country raising objection does not come into consideration, said Krishna. Antony, who visited Arunachal Pradesh Feb 20 for the Silver Jubilee celebrations of its statehood in state capital Itanagar, called the Chinese comments "objectionable". He had also announced a slew of infrastructure development projects for the border state that day. Antony said he had the right and the duty as the defence minister of India to visit all border states any time. ""I was surprised to see such a reaction. I feel it is most unfortun...

Rio de Janeiro, Feb 27 (IANS) Ending a 19-year drought, Fluminense won their eighth Guanabara Cup title comfortably beating Vasco da Gama 3-1 in the final Sunday. The victory marked Fluminense's first Guanabara title since 1993. The Guanabara Cup is the first stage of the Rio de Janeiro state championship and Fluminense will play for the title against the winner of the Rio Cup, which begins next week. Fluminense scored the first goal of the match in the 36th minute after Wellington Nem was tripped by Fagner inside the penalty box and Fluminense were awarded a penalty kick. Fred calmly took the kick, driving the ball into the upper right side of the goal. Deco increased Fluminense's lead with an excellent shot from the top left side of the goalie box. The veteran midfielder caught keeper Fernando Prass by surprise, bending a quick shot into the upper left corner of the goal. Fred scored once again in the 56th minute when he received a rolling pass from Thiago Neves and one-tim...

Los Angeles, Feb 27 (IANS) Indian composer A.R. Rahman performed at the 84th Academy Awards here as part of the Oscar band in his third performance at the prestigious award ceremony. "Oscar sangamam - if you are watching the Oscars live, catch our Oscar superband headed by Hans Zimmer perform tonight," Rahman posted on his Facebook page for his fans. He even posted a picture with all members of the band, which performed throughout Sunday night's ceremony. Last year Rahman had sung his tracks from "127 Hours" at the Oscar ceremony. In 2009, the 46-year-old performed for the first time at the Oscar stage and in the same year he won two golden statuettes for best original score and best original song ("Jai ho") for the movie "Slumdog Millionaire". Other performances at the ceremony also included Esperanza Spalding's rendition of Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world" as a tribute to the entertainers who died during the pa...

Beijing, Feb 27 (IANS) A city in China where 1,000-year-old walls were discovered last year has now decided to preserve them as heritage structures. The walls with a total length of 120 metres were found in November at a construction site of a shopping mall in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, China Daily reported Monday. However, only one-sixth -- or 20 metres -- of the walls would be preserved and the bulk will be moved out of the city over flood concerns. The walls were part of the city during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), said Jiang Wenhui, vice head of the Hunan Administration of Cultural Relics. The relocated section of the walls may later become part of a nearby tourist site, the official said.

Madrid, Feb 27 (IANS) Real Madrid won a difficult and controversial away game against Rayo Vallecano to retain their 10-point lead over FC Barcelona at the top of the Spanish Primera Liga table. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the lone goal of the game with a spectacular back-heel 10 minutes into the second half to give his team 1-0 victory Sunday, Xinhua reported. However, Madrid were again beneficiaries of some favourable referring decisions after match official Fernandez Borbalan chose not to see a clear foul from defender Sergio Ramos on Diego Costa, which should have been punished with a red card for Ramos and a penalty for Rayo after just 19 minutes. He then sent Rayo's Michu off for an innocuous challenge in the closing minutes as the home side looked to get back on level terms. Barcelona were under pressure to win after Real Madrid's victory, and it was Lionel Messi who took them over the line. A magnificent free kick from the Argentine helped Barca to a 2-1 win away to Atle...

Seoul, Feb 27 (IANS) South Korea's business sentiment improved in February amid easing concerns over Europe's debt crisis, the central bank said Monday. The monthly business survey index (BSI), which gauges local manufacturers' assessment of current business conditions, rose 2 points on-month to reach 80 in February, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The February figure came as worries about the European fiscal crisis eased following eurozone finance ministers' approval of the second bailout plan for Greece, but the reading remained below the benchmark 100-point level, indicating that pessimists exceeded optimists, reports Xinhua. The BSI for March, measuring manufacturers' outlook on business conditions for the upcoming month, gained 3 points on-month to 84, staying below the 100-point mark. Domestic manufacturers picked weak domestic demand, uncertain economic conditions and rising raw material prices as their difficulties in doing business. High oil prices ...

Beijing, Feb 27 (IANS) Individual investors may pay less tax on interest from corporate bonds as part of an effort to improve the market for corporate securities, the China Securities Journal reported Monday. The China Securities Regulatory Commission is proposing that income tax on corporate bond interest be reduced or eliminated for individual investors, the report said. The current tax rate for individual investors is 20 percent, Xinhua reported. Analysts say the high tax rate is the main reason individuals are unwilling to invest in corporate bonds, even though they are issued by credit-worthy companies, said the report. The total value of corporate bonds issued in 2011 in China was 129.1 billion yuan ($20.49 billion), up sharply from 51.2 billion yuan in 2010. However, the corporate bond market is still small in comparison with bank credit and equity financing, the report said.

Madrid, Feb 27 (IANS) Ancient Arabic manuscripts are providing valuable meteorological insights to help scientists reconstruct past climate, a study reveals. Scientists from the Universidad de Extremadura, Spain, have turned to Arabic documentary sources from the 9th and 10th centuries (3rd and 4th in the Islamic calendar) to analyse the writings of scholars, historians and diarists in Iraq. "Climate information recovered from these ancient sources mainly refers to extreme events which impacted wider society such as droughts and floods," said Fernando Dominguez-Castro, who led the study, from Extremadura. "However, they also document conditions which were rarely experienced in ancient Baghdad such as hailstorms, the freezing of rivers or even cases of snow," added Dominguez-Castro, according to a university statement. Baghdad was a centre for trade, commerce and science in the ancient Islamic world. In 891 AD Berber geographer al-Ya'qubi wrote that the city ha...

Islamabad, Feb 27 (IANS) The imposing compound in Pakistan's Abbottabad city where Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hunted down and killed by US commandos last year has been razed, a media report said Monday. Osama bin Laden was fatally shot May 2 last year by US commandos who swooped into Abbottabad onboard stealth helicopters and gunned down the Al Qaeda chief without tipping off the Pakistani military, straining ties between Islamabad and Washington. "The process launched for demolishing the compound on Saturday evening was completed on Sunday night. The whole structure has been razed to the ground," Geo News quoted a security official as saying in Abbottabad. He said steps were taken to avoid any mishap during the demolition process. "A number of meetings had taken place since the May 2 operation for demolishing the building, but the structure could not be demolished earlier due to difference in opinion among the officials concerned. It was finally decided to ...

Mexico City, Feb 27 (IANS) Despite the improvement in indicators of global activities, the risks are latent and the world economy is still in "the danger zone", International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde has said. At the conclusion of the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, Lagarde said at a press conference that the reasons to stay alert is the situation of "fragile financial sector" in the eurozone, the "high level of public debt in most advanced economies" and "high oil prices". "Growth is still weak in advanced economies and is moderating in some emerging markets, and at the same time, unemployment remains excessively in many economies, particularly in advanced economies," Lagarde said. She termed the outcome of Sunday's meeting of the 20 strongest economies in the "a step in the right direction" to a sequence of actions to Europe to increase its "firewall" and then w...

By Uma Ramasubramaniam  Mumbai, Feb 27 (IANS) Bollywood star Vidya Balan wants to improve her vocabulary, on the one hand, to express her feelings towards the success of "The Dirty Picture". On the other, she is looking forward to a break and says post that she will do some "dirty dancing". After working non-stop for more than two years, she now wants to take a break. "I am close to saying yes to a film which will not start for another three months. So I really think I need that break because for the past two-and-a-half-years I have been busy with my films. So now I do need that time off to soak everything in. Then I will probably do some dirty dancing," the 33-year-old talented actor told IANS. An unofficial biopic of southern sex siren Silk Smitha, "The Dirty Picture" saw Vidya shedding all inhibitions to get under the skin of the character and said: "I have become unapologetic about being myself. Probably others think that I don...

Washington, Feb 27 (IANS) Rising temperatures, triggered by climate change, are forcing birds to alter their migration patterns. The finding is based on data from eBird, a database containing 10 years' worth of observations from amateur birdwatchers. Since 2002, eBird has collected more than 48 million bird observations from roughly 35,000 contributors. Allen Hurlbert, assistant professor of biology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and his team analyzed when 18 different bird species arrived at various points across their migration journeys, the journal Public Library of Science reports. "Timing of bird migration is something critical for the overall health of bird species," he said. "They have to time it right so they can balance arriving on breeding grounds after there's no longer a risk of severe winter conditions. "If they get it wrong, they may die or may not produce as many young. A change in migration could begin to contribute...

Buenos Aires, Feb 27 (IANS/EFE) The audiotape of the communications between the commuter train that crashed last week in Argentina, killing 51 and injuring 703, and the control center does not reveal that the train driver gave any warning about a brake failure. The contents of the recording were released Sunday by the press and reveal that the motorman only communicated with the control center when he boarded the train and began his work shift. The communications only resume after the train crashed into the shock-absorbing buffers at the Once station, one of the main stations in Buenos Aires, but it is the voice of the train's security guard that can be heard and he is asking the control center to send ambulances, firefighters and police. The train's motorman - who was injured in the crash - stated last Friday before the judge investigating the incident that he hit the brakes twice and then used the emergency brake in an effort to stop the train, but they did not work. Motorma...