Nasheman News : A methane gas explosion at a coal mine in the Czech Republic killed 13 miners, officials and the state-run OKD mining company said on Friday.
Thursday’s blast occurred 2,625 feet below ground at the CSM hard-coal mine near Karvina city, close to the Polish border.
OKD, the company that operates the CSM mine, said 11 of those killed were Polish miners provided by a contractor agency, while two were Czech, CNN reported.
A further 10 miners were injured in the blast, with one in a critical condition, according to the Czech national news agency CTK.
The explosion devastated large areas of the mine. OKD’s Managing Director, Boleslav Kowalczyk, said search and rescue operations had to be called off because of poor conditions in the mine.
“Unfortunately, we have reached a point where it was impossible to move forward because there was a fire raging and zero visibility,” he said in a statement.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis visited the mine with his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki.
“The blast at the CSM mine is a huge tragedy,” Babis tweeted, adding that the country’s Parliament will observe a minute’s silence for the victims on Friday.
Morawiecki called the incident “a huge tragedy for all Poles and Czechs”.
“On this difficult day, we strongly show our solidarity and sense of national community,” he said.
The disaster is the worst mining accident to occur in the Czech Republic since 1990, when 30 miners died in a fire in another mine near Karvina.
HC division bench quashes order permitting BJP’s Rath Yatra rallies
Nasheman News : The BJP’s plans to take out Rath yatra rallies christened ‘Save democracy rallies’ in West Bengal again hit a roadblock, with a Calcutta High Court division bench on Friday quashing the order of a single bench that gave conditional go-ahead to the programme.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Debasish Kargupta and Justice Shampa Sarkar sent the case back to the single bench with a directive that the latter consider the intelligence inputs provided by the state agencies.
The Mamata Banerjee government had moved an appeal at the division bench against Thursday’s single bench order and sought urgent hearing.
While setting aside the single bench’s order, the division bench directed it to study afresh the 36 intelligence inputs from 31 police stations and five police commissionerates submitted by the state government before it.
The ruling came after state advocate general Kishore Dutta argued that the single bench had not considered the intelligence inputs and returned to the government without opening the sealed cover in which the inputs were given.
Dutta said the intelligence inputs had apprehended communal disturbances if the BJP’s proposed programme was given the green light.
In an interesting development, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi pleaded as a counsel of the Director General of Police and the additional director general (law and order) and argued that the rally and the reception part of the programme would lead to huge traffic bottlenecks, inconveniencing commuters.
Sanghvi said with the BJP submitting that 1,500 people would take part in each of the three Rath Yatra rallies in the state, there would be a kilometre long bus convoy in each case, jeopardising vehicular movement. He said the police have no objection to the holding of meetings, and pointed out that nearly 2,100 such political meetings called by the saffron outfit in the last two years have got the nod in the state.
The police’s objection was about the rally and reception part of the programme that could cause traffic chaos, he argued.
On Thursday, acting on a petition filed by the BJP against the government refusing permission for the rallies, the bench of Justice Tapobrata Chakraborty had given conditional permission to the programme, saying the organisers will be liable for any untoward incident or damage to public property.
The state government had last week rejected BJP’s plea to hold the ‘Rath Yatra’, arguing there was “grave apprehension of major breach of peace and communal violence during and in the aftermath” of the programme.
The BJP had moved a single bench of the Calcutta High Court on December 17 after the Bengal government’s decision and proposed December 22, 24 and 26 as fresh dates for the three Rath Yatra rallies.
The BJP was originally scheduled to hold three Rath Yatra rallies from north Bengal’s Cooch Behar, South 24 Parganas district’s Gangasagar and Birbhum district’s temple town of Tarapith, flagged off by party president Amit Shah on December 7, 9 and 14 respectively. These rallies were meant to touch all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state before converging at Kolkata in January.
Congress appoints H.K. Patil as Karnataka campaign committee chairman
Nasheman News :Former Karnataka Minister and Congress leader H.K. Patil was appointed the Chairman of the Karnataka Campaign Committee on Saturday.
Patil will replace D.K. Shivkumar.
“Congress President Rahul Gandhi has approved the name of H.K. Patil, ex-Minister, as Chairman of the Campaign Committee for Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, in place of D.K. Shivakumar, with immediate effect,” the All India Congress Committee said in a statement.
Rise in breast cancer leading to more ovarian cancer: Experts By Somrita Ghosh
New Delh (IANS) Breast cancer, the leading cause of mortality among women in India, is being seen as an augmenting factor in the rise in ovarian cancer cases as well, according to medical experts.
Dr M.D. Ray, surgical oncologist at AIIMS, Delhi, says women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer remain at a higher risk of contracting ovarian cancer due to the presence of same gene that triggers both cancers.
“Genes are responsible for cancer. Owing to the rise in the incidence of breast cancer, we have observed that there is a considerable increase in cases of ovarian cancer as well in the past few years. Even at AIIMS there have been many cases where a female patient has been diagnosed with both,” Dr Ray told IANS.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are human genes that produce tumour suppressor proteins. However, when either of these genes is mutated — meaning it doesn’t function correctly — the damage to the DNA may not be repaired properly. As a result, cells are more likely to develop additional genetic alterations that can lead to cancer.
“There are two types of genes — BRCA1 and BRCA2 — which are responsible for both breast and ovarian cancer. Dysfunction of these two genes increases the chances of getting diagnosed with both the cancers. An individual with breast cancer, therefore, remains at risk of facing ovarian cancer and vice versa,” Dr Ray noted.
“If one has breast cancer, there are 30-35 per cent chances of also having ovarian cancer. And if the person has ovarian cancer, there are 10-15 per cent chances of getting diagnosed with breast cancer,” Dr Mala Srivastava, oncologist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, noted.
Specific inherited mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 most notably increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, but they have also been associated with increased risks of several additional types of the disease like fallopian tube cancer, peritoneal cancer, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer.
Women who have inherited mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 tend to develop breast and ovarian cancers at younger ages than those without these mutations.
Although presumed to be more common among women above 50, Dr Ray noted that both breast and ovarian cancer cases are increasing among women below 35 as well.
“This is owing to poor lifestyle habits. And this is not confined to any particular economic class. A sedentary lifestyle further escalates it,” he added.
Since both cancers are related to genetics, medical experts suggested that women should start screening and gene-testing at an early age.
“For, say, if one or two family members had breast or ovarian cancer then all the women in that family should be tested for BRCA 1 and BRCA 2. Secondly, the screening for both breast and ovarian cancer should start early in life. Suppose a woman’s mother had breast cancer at the age of 45, then she should start mammography at the age of 35,” Dr Srivastava pointed out.
In India, however, gene tests are still costly which is why many women fail to get diagnosed in time. Dr Srivastava said that a gene test would cost around Rs 25,000 to Rs 26,000.
“In India, almost 90 per cent patients come to a doctor when in an advanced stage because they don’t get detected at an early stage. The main reason is that the symptoms of ovarian cancers are very vague. Despite all types of high-tech surgeries, the survival rate is less than 30 per cent,” Dr Ray added.
The doctors claimed that if detected early, both cancers are curable.
“Now-a-days, treatment is very good. If a woman diagnosed with breast cancer is detected and treated at an early stage, there are less chances of her having ovarian cancer,” Dr Srivastava explained.
According to a latest ICMR-Lancet report, breast cancer is the leading cancer among Indian women. States like Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Haryana were found to have the majority of cases.
The report also stated that ovarian cancer has the sixth-highest incidence rate with the majority in states like Kerala, Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh and Punjab.
Cricketer Sanju Samson ties the knot with classmate
[NASHEMAN NEWS] Thiruvananthapuram Kerala cricketer Sanju Samson, who has played for the Rajasthan Royals and also donned the national blue, tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend Charulatha on Saturday.
The former college mates got wedded in a simple ceremony at a resort in Kovalam, near here, earlier in the day. The wedding reception is slated later in the evening.
“There were just 30 of us from both the families and it was a very simple function,” said Samson.
“We are very happy that we have got the blessings of both the families,” he said.
While Samson is a Christian, Charu is a Hindu Nair. The marriage was solemnised under the Special Marriage Act.
Both have known each other since their graduation at the Mar Ivanios College, here. Charu is presently doing her post graduation.
Samson, 23, was part of the 2018 Indian Premiere League (IPL) in the reinstated Rajasthan Royals team at a bid price of Rs 8 crore.
Cold, foggy Delhi morning, air quality ‘severe’
[NASHEMAN NEWS] New Delhi,It was a cold, foggy morning in the national capital on Saturday with minimum temperature dropping to 4 degrees Celsius, four notches below average and air quality remaining ‘severe’, the Met said.
At 8.30 a.m., visibility was at 600 metres and humidity was 97 per cent — a condition nor favourable for dispersal of pollutants in the air.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi’s Air Quality Index is 408 with major pollutants being PM2.5 and PM10.
“The sky will remain clear throughout the day, with mist or shallow fog in the morning and haze or smog thereafter,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.
The cold wave that started midweek here was expected to end on Saturday. even on Thursday, the city recorded 4 degrees Celsius the coldest in December as it was today.
Temperatures across northwest India has been similarly low, an India Meteorological Department official told IANS. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan were also experiencing biting cold conditions.
Friday’s maximum temperature was 20.6 degrees Celsius, a notch below season’s average while the minimum the minimum temperature was 4.7 degrees Celsius, three notches below average.
Rahul should be given more time to prove his mettle as national leader: Farooq Abdullah
Nasheman News : Jammu and Kashmir National Conference chairman Farooq Abdullah on Friday said Congress president Rahul Gandhi should be given more time to prove his mettle as a national leader.
Abdullah, also a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said Gandhi has proved himself by leading the Congress to victory in assembly elections in three states recently.
“Rahul Gandhi should be given more time in order to prove his mettle as a national leader,” Abdullah said at an event at the Bharat Chambers here.
Abdullah said the Congress’ opponents could no longer call Gandhi a “Pappu” after the party’s electoral triumph in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
“He was called Pappu all this while, but he has proved his mettle with the victory in the three elections. Now he can’t be called Pappu any more.”
Referring to Gandhi’s father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Abdullah said, “He was a pilot, but after becoming Prime Minister he gave India a free economy”.
He said it was necessary to project young leaders in India to ensure the nation’s progress.
5 cops suspended for custodial death in Manipur
I Five policemen have been suspended in connection with the custodial death of a taxi driver in Manipur, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said on Friday.
Biren Singh, who also holds the Home charge, while replying to a calling attention motion moved by Congress MLA K. Joykishan, informed the state Assembly that five police commandos have been suspended for the custodial death of Abdul Gaffer.
He further said that a compensation of Rs 5 lakh shall be paid to the bereaved family. Besides, the government shall provide a suitable job to one of his family members.
According to Gaffer’s widow, at 2.30 a.m. on Thursday, a team of police commandos and personnel of 26 Assam Rifles barged into their house and dragged away her husband without any explanation. Around 10.30 a.m., she was informed of his death.
Soon after, the news spread and people blocked vehicular traffic in Thoubal district, where the family stayed. They also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding, among others, a judicial inquiry and booking of the accused.
Later, Biren Singh assured the protesters that the cops would be suspended and other demands, including compensation and government job to the family and a magisterial inquiry, would be conceded.
At least 1,528 cases are pending in the Supreme Court in connection with “fake encounters” in Manipur.
CALIPH Degree College Awarded “Best Institute for Noble Services & Academic Excellence”.
Mr Tahir Ali Joint Director Caliph Degree College receiving the award from Mr Rizwan Asad, Chief Editor Nasheman.
Caliph Degree College of Kalburagi has been awarded as “Best Institute for Noble Services & Academic Excellence” by Karnataka Educational Awards 2018. A team of eminent personalities & Jury across Karnataka assessed the college through documents, questionnaire, and personal interaction and through survey conducted by Karnataka Educational Awards.
Mr Naseer Ali Joint Director Caliph Degree College said that this award is the result of various noble activates undertaken for upliftment of the underprivileged students. Also the Academic Excellence & overall development of students is the key for the success of this institute. The college conducts campus interview every year in which many Multinational companies participates and select the students.
The award ceremony was held in Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan in Bangalore on 20th December 2018 and was attended by famous personalities from the field of Education, Sports & Political Background.
Congress demands ailing Parrikar’s resignation over British national’s rape
Nasheman News : The Congress on Friday demanded the resignation of ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar over the rape of a British national on Thursday near the popular beach village of Palolem in South Goa.
The recurring sexual assault on foreign nationals in the coastal state will have an impact on Goa’s tourism prospects, president of the Goa Congress women’s unit Pratima Coutinho told reporters at the state Congress headquarters here.
“The CM of Goa is missing. He is not keeping good health. He is not ready to distribute portfolios. He is holding 38 ministries and he is not even willing to distribute them. He is the home minister of Goa and molestation, rapes are increasing day by day,” Coutinho said, reacting to the rape of the middle-aged British national on Thursday morning.
The accused in the case was arrested by the police the same evening.
“The BJP government has finished mining in Goa. The tourism industry which is the main source of revenue, is facing a setback with these rapes and such incidents. Every year we see foreign nationals raped and molested. How can we expect foreign tourists to come to Goa? High time CM Parrikar resigns or gives his portfolios to other ministers,” she also said.
Goa is one of the top tourism destinations in the country and attracts more than seven million tourists annually, out of which half a million are foreigners.
Meanwhile, after the Goa BJP announced its protest march on Friday from the state BJP office to the Panaji ferry ramp, right opposite the Congress state headquarters, the Congress unfurled a banner outside its office premises ‘welcoming’ protestors from the ruling party to “explain their lies on Rafale deal”.