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Archives for February 2016

Ishrat Jahan had no terror links, says lawyer Vrinda Grover dismisses Headley’s version

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Vrinda Grover

New Delhi: Vrinda Grover, who is representing Ishrat Jahan’s family in court, on Thursday insisted that Ishrat had no terror links. She said that Headley’s statement is “extremely manipulative” and cannot be “treated as evidence” as per the Indian law. A judicial enquiry, the Gujarat High Court and the CBI all concluded that the encounter was fake.

Ceasefire talk as 50,000 Syrians flee Aleppo fighting

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Russia reportedly has proposed a March 1 truce as the Syrian government ramps up its military offensive on Aleppo.

Syrian refugees wait for food near a refugee camp in Bab Al-Salama city, in northern Syria, on February 6 [Sedat Suna/EPA]

Syrian refugees wait for food near a refugee camp in Bab Al-Salama city, in northern Syria, on February 6 [Sedat Suna/EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Russia is ready to discuss a possible ceasefire in Syria, an official said on Thursday, before a crucial meeting of major powers in Germany on how to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war.

“We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire in Syria,” Gennady Gatilov, the deputy foreign minister, was cited by the TASS news agency as saying. “This is what will be talked about in Munich.”

Citing an unnamed Western official, the Reuters news agency reported late on Wednesday that Russia proposed a ceasefire to begin on March 1.

International powers, including Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Iran, were to meet on Thursday in Germany in a bid to resurrect Syrian peace talks inGeneva that were postponed earlier this month.

A Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo – backed by Russian air strikes – has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border, putting the Geneva talks in jeopardy.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said that the US and its allies would probably view Russia’s truce offer with scepticism.

“The US concerns are that this gives the offensive that’s currently ongoing in the Aleppo region more time to push the rebels back, possibly going so far as a full military victory,” said Challands.

Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry lashed out at the US-led coalition in Syria for refusing to provide intelligence on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets there.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the defence ministry spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday that Russia has shared its own intelligence with the US that has “gratefully taken” it – but has not reciprocated.

Konashenkov said Moscow has repeatedly asked Washington and its allies for intelligence in response to the accusations that Russians are targeting the “wrong objects”.

At least 50,000 Syrians have fled the fighting in Aleppo, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday, adding that water supplies have been disrupted in some parts of the province.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday that at least 500 people have been killed since the Syrian government, backed by Russian air strikes,  launched a major offensive  from the north of Aleppo on February 1.

The Observatory said  that among those killed were “89 civilians, including 23 children, 143 pro-government fighters, 274 rebels and foreign fighters”.

Russian air strikes that began in September have tilted the war in favour of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The Syrian government holds the west of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, while the rebels hold the east, but the situation is largely reversed in the countryside.

The latest diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian conflict through peace talks were suspended in Geneva earlier this month until February 25, after UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said that more work was needed to make progress.

The Syrian opposition has said that it will not attend the scheduled talks unless the government ends its air strikes and lifts the sieges on cities and towns.

The peace talks are meant to develop a “road map” to end the conflict of almost five years that has resulted in more than 250,000 Syrians being killed.

The conflict has also displaced millions more and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing as refugees to Europe.

Art of Living’s event under NGT scanner

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Ravishankar Art of Living

New Delhi: A three-day ‘World Culture Festival’ to be organised next month under the patronage of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living today came under the scanner of National Green Tribunal, which sought the Delhi government’s response on a plea seeking to stop holding of the event on Yamuna floodplains.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Art of Living Foundation seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains of Yamuna.

The green panel directed DDA to submit all the documents on the basis of which permission for the event was granted to the foundation. It also asked DDA to inspect the site in question along with Professor A K Gosain of IIT and submit a status report.

The event will be held from March 11-13 at Mayur Vihar in East Delhi to mark the celebration of 35 years of The Art of Living. The President and the Prime Minister have reportedly given their consent to the part of inaugural ceremony.

The Tribunal was hearing a petition by Manoj Mishra, convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, alleging that the Foundation has recently started construction on the Yamuna flood plains for the festival in violation of NGT orders.

In a detailed judgement last year, NGT had prohibited any construction activity in the demarcated flood plains of Yamuna and asked its Principal Committee to identify structures which fall on the flood plain and recommend their demolition.

The plea, filed by advocate Rahul Choudhary, said “it is stated that Art of Living International Center has recently started construction on the Yamuna flood plains for organising the festival from March 11-13, 2016 and for which illegal and unauthorised dumping & construction in the active flood plains of river Yamuna in the NCT of Delhi is taking place over some 25 hectares upstream of DND flyway.

“Not only the site but in fact approach roads are also planned to be constructed from the Ring Road and the DND flyway which also involves dumping of huge amount of debris and clearing of the flood plains.”

In his plea, Mishra has sought imposition of exemplary fine on government agencies and the Foundation for damaging the environment and their non-compliance of the orders of the Tribunal.

(Agencies)

Shiv Kumar Sharma, Hari Prasad Chaurasiya, Suresh Wadkar & Yogesh Gaur to get first Ravindra Jain academy award

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Ravindra Jain academy award

Shri Ravindra Jain was an influence, inspiration & guidance to people of all walks of life. His presence will always be felt & his absence be missed. Dada’s (a art, his music, his lyrics as well as his attitude towards life, will always be keep alive in the minds of his fans & his well wishers.

His work will continue and his legacy will also be kept alive, hence on 28th Feb, 2016, a musical function will be organised, an event in his memory at Iskon auditorium,juhu. Besides an award in his name will be started which would be presented by the Ravindra Jain Academy of Music & Fine Arts. The Ravindra jain Academy Award would be presented to Lyricists, Music Composers & a Singer. That apart on the birth anniversary of Ravindra Jain, his birthday will also be celebrated, as well as his contribution towards the society.

Shri Ravindra Jain Ji was not only an amazing music director, but also a brilliant singer & lyricist, as we have all been witness to his work. Keeping this fact in mind, an award will be presented to 2 different artists who are known & valued for their work in these fields. After great discussion & deliberation amongst a jury of respected individuals, a decision has been made. The awards are to be presented to the legendary music director duo namely Shri Shiv Kumar Sharmaji & Shri Hari Prasad Chaurasiyaji, renowned playback & classical singer Shri Suresh Wadkarji & a renowned lyricist Shri Yogesh Gaurji.

MedTrix Healthcare partners with one of the top 3 Pharma companies in emerging markets

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MedTrix Healthcare

Bangalore: MedTrix Healthcare, a leading provider of digital and medical communication solutions to top Pharma companies globally has announced that it has partnered with one of the top 3 Pharma companies in emerging markets to provide patient engagement as an enterprise-wide solution with the ability to integrate several therapy areas. The patient engagement activity is an effort from global Pharma to improve the way it communicates with patients and offer services in line with patient centricity.

This is a multi-specialty program capable of integrating several brands and therapies using a single platform. The platform offers modular care plans, pill reminders, disease education and provides better patient access to caregivers. This is available as mobile app using IoS and Android platforms for patients along with a web dashboard for the administrators or program owners.

The Global Pharmaceutical Industry is at an inflection point, where it is pivoting from doing Digital to being Digital. The key aspect to this shift is the growing pressure on global pharma in terms of cost, ability to innovate, emergence of technology and the usage of the digital medium to reach their customers and patients. We have the expertise to fulfil the technical and scientific requirements for this natural progression. At MedTrix we combine science, technology and strategy with our ISO certified systems and processes to accomplish specific business objectives for our clients” said Mr. Vimal Narayanan, Founder & Director, MedTrix Healthcare.

“We are among the rarest breed of companies who are able to work in the strategic digital & medical communication space for our clients. For most of our clients, we are the first company from India or elsewhere to provide the kind of solutions that we offer. We are planning to expand our existing presence in multiple geographies including US, Europe and Asia Pacific regions by increasing our access into the top 20 Pharma Companies”, adds Vimal Narayanan.

MedTrix Healthcare aims to be a leading navigator of the paradigm shifts occurring in the pharmaceutical industry. Ongoing trends show that both patients and healthcare professionals are increasingly moving online to manage health outcomes. Simultaneously, pharmaceutical companies are establishing across-the-board virtual ecosystems on digital platforms, to create seamless interactions with all the stakeholders.

Hindu nationalism: UK paper to use Bombay instead of Mumbai

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theindependent-mumbai

London: A leading British daily will revert back to using Bombay instead of Mumbai when referring to the financial hub of India, to take stand against a “nastier strain of Hindu nationalism,” its Indian-origin editor said today.

“The whole point of Bombay is of an open, cosmopolitan port city, the gateway of India that’s open to the world. If you call it what Hindu nationalists want you to call it, you essentially do their work for them,” Amol Rajan, the editor of ‘The Independent’, told BBC today.

The 32-year-old editor said the move was the newspaper’s stand against a “nastier strain of Hindu nationalism”.

The city’s name was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995 to distance itself from the colonial term – Bombay – under pressure from the right-wing Shiv Sena, which ruled the state from 1995 to 1999 in alliance with the BJP.

“As journalists, as someone who edits ‘The Independent’, it’s incredibly important to be specific about our terminology.

“I’d rather side with the tradition of India that’s been open to the world, rather than the one that’s been closed, which is in ascendance right now,” he said.

The Kolkata-born journalist took the helm at ‘The Independent’ in 2013.

The newspaper prides itself on its apolitical history. “In post-partition India, there has been a sort of uneasy marriage between two very different traditions. One of the founding father, amazing people like B R Ambedkar, Patel, Nehru, Gandhi who are open, secular pluralists and tolerant.

“The other was a slightly nastier strain of Hindu nationalism, which has its expression in the BJP and a movement called Shiv Sena,” he said.

He explained the genesis of the term Mumbai after Goddess Mumbadevi, the protector of fisherman who were the city’s original inhabitants.

The name Bombay became commonly used during the British Raj and had its roots in the Portuguese colonial name “Bom Bahia”, or “good bay”.

“Shiv Sena pushed through the renaming against the will of the national government,” Rajan pointed out.

(PTI)

Net neutrality: Facebook shuts Free Basics programme in India

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Facebook

New Delhi: In a boost to net neutrality, Facebook has decided to shut down its controversial ‘Free Basics’ programme in India, following telecom regulator Trai’s move to bar operators from charging different rates for Internet access based on content.

Facebook had met with severe criticism for its programme, which aimed at providing basic Internet access to people in partnership with telecom operators.

Critics saw this as violation of the principle of net neutrality that states that entire Internet should be available to everyone on equal terms as Free Basics allowed access to selected websites.

“Free Basics is no longer available to people in India,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed response. The service was available in India with Reliance Communications. In December, RCom put the service on hold following a Telecom Regulator Authority of India’s directive to that effect.

Ruling in favour of net neutrality, Trai has barred all telecom operators from offering discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content, impying that operators will have to charge the same price for data used, irrespective of website or app accessed by the consumer.

This puts an end to Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel’s zero rating plans in India. Yesterday, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen had set off another controversy by terming Trai’s decision as an ‘anti-colonialist’ idea and said the country would have been better off if it had remained under British rule.

Facebook founder and head Mark Zuckerberg distanced himself from the comments saying the remarks were “deeply upsetting” and did not represent the company’s thinking.

“India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people,” he wrote in a post on the social networking site.

“It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress,” he added. Andreessen deleted the tweet and apologised through a series of tweets yesterday.

“Last night on Twitter, I made an ill-informed and ill-advised comment about Indian politics and economics. To be clear, I am 100 per cent opposed to colonialism, and 100 per cent in favor of independence and freedom, in any country, including India,” he said later in a series of tweets.

Zuckerberg has come out in defence of the programme time and again, saying it did not block or throttle other services and is not in conflict with net neutrality. Launched in 2014, Facebook is running the Internet.org programme across over 17 countries providing basic Internet access to over one billion people.

Following allegations of violation of net neutrality, Facebook rebranded the programme as ‘Free Basics’. It had said the rebranding will help Facebook distinguish the free basic Internet offering from the large number of activities the US-based company is pursuing to help get new users online across the globe. Recently, it ran a big media campaign in support of the programme.

(Agencies)

Soldier who survived under 35ft ice in Siachen for 6 days dies in hospital

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Siachen

New Delhi: Siachen soldier Lance Naik Koppad Hanmanthappa, who survived for six days under 35 feet of ice and snow in Siachen, passed away at the Army Hospital today.

The medical condition of Lance Naik deteriorated on Wednesday and he had slipped into comma.

“He continues to remain extremely critical with evidence of oxygen deprivation to the brain on CT scan. There is evidence of pneumonia in both lungs. In addition, multi-organ dysfunction state continues unabated,” stated the evening medical bulletin issued by the Research & Referral (R&R) Hospital where Hanmanthappa is undergoing treatment since Tuesday.

Doctors at the R&R hospital took a second opinion from a team of experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. The senior doctors were in agreement with the ongoing clinical management strategy and concurred with the future plan of management.

Hanmanthappa was pulled out alive from under 35 feet of snow in Siachen glacier on Monday, six days after an Army post guarding the world’s highest helipad was hit by a huge avalanche burying Hanmanthappa and nine other men from 19 Madras regiment. He was flown to Delhi and admitted to the R&R hospital on Tuesday.

“He experienced less oxygen supply to the brain besides hypothermia due to sustained exposure to sub-zero temperature and dehydration. In the absence of food, the metabolic system, too, failed, leading to kidney and liver failure,” William Selvamurthy, former director of Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, Delhi, told Deccan Herald.

Following warming at the hospital, his blood pressure would drop, which the doctors had to manage, Selvamurthy added.

Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh said in a television interview that a day after the avalanche, the Army received a radio contact from the post buried under ice, suggesting that at least one person was alive. The rescue efforts were accelerated following the radio contact.

The Air Force and the Army carried out close to 300 sorties to ferry about 180 men, digging and detection equipment, and two sniffer dogs. It took six days for the men and machine to zero in on the spot and cut through blue ice – harder than concrete – to retrieve Hanmanthappa and nine other men, who perished in the icy heights.

The Dharwad man survived, explained Selvamurthy, possibly because of an air conduit through which he was receiving oxygen. Hanmanthappa did not exert himself and minimised metabolic functions and saved energy. Meanwhile, the mortal remains of other soldiers are stuck in the Siachen base camp as bad weather halted helicopter sorties.

(Agencies)

130 schools shut in Bangaluru after ‘leopard sighting’

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leopard

Bangalore: A reported leopard sighting close to where a big cat injured five people at the weekend forced the closure of 130 schools in Bangalore on Thursday, the education authority said.

Panic gripped an eastern suburb of the city after a woman claimed to have spotted a leopard six kilometres (four miles) away from Vibgyor school where one tried to maul several wildlife workers Sunday, before being caged.

Residents were advised not to venture into open spaces in the area, which is dotted with boulders and eucalyptus plantations, as a precaution.

“We have advised about 80 private and 50 government schools in the city’s eastern areas to remain closed today (Thursday) for the safety of their wards, as one or two more leopards were seen moving around in the vicinity,” S.M. Ramesh, block education officer, told AFP.

Forestry officials said they had searched the area for two days without success, after a woman reported seeing a leopard behind a technology park on her way home from work on Wednesday evening.

“We have placed one cage with a bait in the area and another near the private school where one leopard was trapped on 7 February,” deputy range forest officer Jagannath Reddy told reporters.

About 60 schools in the eastern areas had already declared a holiday on Wednesday, after rumours spread about a leopard being sighted in the area.

Leopards number between 12,000 to 14,000 in India, according to a national survey released last year. They are increasingly venturing into populated areas as their habitats become depleted.

A leopard killed a five-year-old boy in the courtyard of his home in central India in 2014.

Video footage from Mumbai in 2013 showed a leopard creeping into an apartment block foyer and snatching a small dog.

(Agencies)

India steamroll Sri Lanka to enter fifth Under-19 World Cup final

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Cricket

Mirpur: Three-time champions India continued their invincible run to enter the ICC Under-19 World Cup final for a fifth time with an emphatic 97-run win over Sri Lanka in the semi-finals on Tuesday.

India did well to reach 267/9 after a shaky start before putting up an impressive effort with the ball to dismiss Sri Lanka for 170 in 42.4 overs.

The batting stars were Anmolpreet Singh (72 off 92) and Sarfaraz Khan (59 off 71), who amassed his fourth fifty plus scores in five innings player in the tournament.

The three time champions now await either West Indies or hosts Bangladesh in the final to be played on February 14.

Indians, put in to bat on an overcast morning, were put under pressure right away with its formidable opening pair of Rishabh Pant and captain Ishan Kishan falling cheaply to leave their team at 27/2 in the 10th over.

Batting was not easy but Anmolpreet and the in-form Sarfaraz steadied the ship with a 96-run stand off 126 balls for the third wicket.

While Anmolpreet’s was a gritty 92-ball knock, power-hitter Sarfaraz too played a measured innings considering the circumstances. The 18-year-old IPL recruit, who came into the match with scores of 76, 21*, 74, 74, still managed to pierce the field for six fours and a maximum.

Anmolpreet, who struck half a dozen fours and a six during his stay at the crease, stitched another handy 70-run partnership with Washington Sundar (43 off 45) after Sarfaraz’s departure.

India needed a move on in the last 10 overs and the late burst came courtesy Sundar and Armaan Jaffer, who smashed 29 off 16 balls before Mayank Dagar’s 17-run cameo off 10 balls took his team to a competitive total in a crunch match.

Defending the target, the Indian bowlers did not allow the Lankan chase to take off.

India missed quite a few chances on the field but the bowlers were still good enough to keep things tight for the opposition. After a batting cameo, Dagar did his bit with the ball as well, grabbing 3/21 in 5.4 overs of his left-arm spin.

Pacer Avesh Khan, India’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament, struck in the very first over, dismissing Avishka Fernando leg before wicket even though the ball appeared to be drifting down. Soon after, the run out of Kaveen Bandara made it 13 for 2 in the fourth over.

The chase was not a huge one but Sri Lankan batsmen failed to rotate the strike and a regular loss of wickets meant the asking run rate kept going up.

Sri Lanka’s hopes of reaching their second ever final were all but over when the scoreboard read 133 for six in the 35th over.

Kamindu Mendis (39) and Shammu Ashan (38) got starts but failed to get that one big score needed to overhaul the target.

(PTI)

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