Photostream: News Digest: Indian envoy meets Pakistan's Punjab CM; Nawaz Sharif slams India

Monday, February 06, 2017

Today's Headlines

Indian envoy meets Pakistan's Punjab CM; Nawaz Sharif slams India
India’s envoy to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale met the powerful CM of the country’s Punjab province and Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif ’s brother Shahbaz Sharif in Lahore on Saturday, a day after India facilitated the return of a Pakistani boy who had strayed across the border, sparking speculation that some kind of a thaw may be in the air between the two countries. The meeting comes days after Pakistan detained Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed citing “national interest”.

Jayalalithaa's close aide, who has never fought an election, grabs Tamil Nadu's reins
AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala was on Sunday unanimously elected legislature party leader by MLAs at a party meeting, paving the way for her to become the third woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The swearing-in ceremony is likely to take place on Thursday.

Share of spend in government expenditure, GDP on education falling for 3 years
Spending on education as a share of the central government’s total budgeted expenditure has been falling for the past three years. Compared to 2013-14, the last year of UPA, when education got 4.57% of the total expenditure, there has been a steady decline — 3.65% in 2016-17, according to this Budget’s revised estimate, with the estimated outlay for the coming year showing a minor uptick at 3.71%.

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Business

Govt e-marketplace set to be mandatory for all departments
The government is set to make it mandatory for all its departments to procure goods and services through its Amazon-like emarketplace, which will also introduce preference for domestic players.

RBI expected to hold interest rates at Tuesday's review
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to hold key interest rates at its monetary policy review, its second after November's note ban, in the wake of banks being flush with funds post-demonetisation and a firming up of global oil prices.

Pizza Hut plans to double outlets to over 700 by 2022
Pizza Hut considers India to be one of its most important markets and plans to double its store count to over 700 in the next five years, riding the wave of growing popularity of western fast-food in the country, a senior company executive said.

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Environment

NGT to hear plea on recent oil spill off TN coast
The issue of a recent oil spill off the coast of Tamil Nadu that is posing a threat to environment and health of local residents has gone to the National Green Tribunal with a plea seeking compensation and seizure of the vessels.

Chennai oil spill: Safe disposal of hazardous sludge
With authorities involved in the post-oil spill clean up operations off Chennai coast expecting to finish the task in the next couple of days, the Centre has now asked the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to treat the collected sludge for its safe disposal through bio-remediation - a waste management technique using biological organism to neutralize pollutants.

Rare leaf-nosed bats sighted after 37 yrs
A specie of the bats aboriginal to the Thar desert, has been re-sighted by a group of zoological researchers after 37 years. Identified as Hipposideros Fulvus (a leaf-nosed bat), the bat has been found roosting in ancient caves at Daijar near Jodhpur.

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World

Asked about Putin, Donald Trump says US isn't 'so innocent'
President Donald Trump said he respects Vladimir Putin, and when an interviewer called the Russian leader "a killer", Trump said the United States has many of them. "What do you think? Our country's so innocent," he said.

Turkey detains over 400 IS suspects in raids
Turkish police on Sunday detained hundreds of suspected members of the Islamic State extremist group in nationwide raids, just over a month after an attack on an Istanbul nightclub claimed by the jihadists.

Suspect in Louvre attack quizzed for first time
French investigators on Sunday began questioning a suspect in the attack on troops outside the Louvre Museum in Paris, but the man refused to speak. The suspect, believed to be an Egyptian national, was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded after lunging at soldiers with two machetes on Friday.

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Entertainment

Watch: Shah Rukh Khan and Mahira Khan's sizzling chemistry in 'Halka Halka'
Although Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Raees’ has performed well at the box office, King Khan went on to share one more song from the film ‘Halka Halka’.

LFW 2017: Kareena Kapoor Khan stuns as showstopper at the grand finale
Kareena Kapoor Khan is unstoppable and has managed to grab eyeballs.

Hrithik on 'Raees': The clash was unhealthy

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Science

World's tiniest hammer may help understand brain injuries
Researchers have created the world's tiniest hammer to precisely measure how force affects brain cells, an advance that might pave the way for better treatments against traumatic brain injuries and Alzheimer's.

Man sells his tattooed skin to immortalise it
Tim Steiner has a work of art inked on him, but he's only the “temporary frame“.

Measles-rubella vaccination campaign launched
Adding a new vaccine to its flagship Universal Immunisation Programme, the Union health ministry launched measles rubella (MR) vaccination campaign in the country on Sunday. The campaign will soon be followed by roll out of the vaccine in routine immunisation, an official said.

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Sports

Davis Cup: Ramkumar, Yuki power India to 4-1 win over NZ
A lanky Ramkumar Ramanathan was fluent in his win over Finn Tearney while Yuki Bhambri struggled past Jose Statham as India completed an emphatic 4-1 victory over New Zealand in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tie.

BCCI officials may seek SC succor for more authority
The office-bearers of BCCI could now take a legal route to be a part of the day-to-day working of the board despite a message that chairman of the Committee of Administrators Vinod Rai is the de facto boss.

Getting Kohli's wicket early will be a dream come true: Taskin
The 21-year-old Bangladeshi fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who has just played two Tests, spoke at length about the importance of the India tour.

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Technology

Reliance Jio's 'free services' get clean chit: 6 things to know
Wonder what as a consumer has changed for you? Here are the 6 things that have changed in Reliance Jio's 'free services' plan...

Apple to have 'exclusive manufacturer' for iPhones in India: Report
An assembly plant that Apple's Taiwanese manufacturing partner Wistron Corp is setting up in Bengaluru will focus solely on assembling iPhones, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

PM Narendra Modi's photo lands Paytm, Reliance Jio in soup
The government has issued notices to Paytm and Reliance Jio Infocomm asking them whether they had taken prior permission before using Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photographs on advertisements of their products.

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Education

HRD to bring 'graded regulatory mechanism' in UGC: Javadekar
The HRD ministry will bring in a "graded regulatory mechanism" as part of key reforms in the University Grants Commission (UGC) to usher in greater transparency, freedom and autonomy, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Sunday.

BEd degree from Jammu & Kashmir institutions will now be valid in Bihar
Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree from the University of Jammu and the University of Kashmir will now be valid in Bihar for appointment of teachers in secondary and higher secondary schools.

Academic council fumes at attempts to straight jacket popular arts course under science
A circular from under-secretary to government, education department (universities – 2) to registrars of all 17 state universities to offer UG/PG courses in geography, psychology, statistics, mathematics, anthropology and criminology as part of BSc/MSc programmes came in for close scrutiny at the third general meeting of the academic council of Mangalore University on Friday.

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Mumbai

Over 53,000 caught crossing tracks on WR in 5 years
More than 53,000 people were caught crossing tracks illegally on the Western Railway's suburban section in the past five years.

Poll battle swings from light to extreme: Some wards have 3 candidates, some 33
Political parties are finding it tough to find and field candidates in reserved wards in posh localities, leading to fewer number of people in the fray from the areas.

Hospital swindle: Staffer pockets refund for patient's supplies
In what could unearth a bigger racket at the state-run St George hospital, cops are probing a case filed by the relatives of a kidney patient who alleged that a hospital staffer had returned to the chemist prescribed medical equipment bought by the family and pocketed the refund.

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Delhi

Newly wed dies in car crash in Delhi
The couple, Pattrick and Sonam, lived in a rented apartment in Moti Nagar after getting married last month.

Marriage papers blew con's cover
For 25-year-old Susan (name changed), finding the “love of her life“ on Facebook was nothing short of a fairy tale affair.

11 Asha Kiran inmates died in 2 months: Delhi Commission for Women
In a damning report against the city government's social welfare department, Delhi Commission for Women has said 11 patients died at the Asha Kiran home for the mentally challenged in the past two months.

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Bangalore

Paintings here are easy on pocket
Art was in full bloom at the Sculpture Garden next to Ravindra Kalakshetra on Sunday.

Groom dies at marriage hall just before tying knot
A 28-year-old M.Tech graduate from Bengaluru died in a marriage hall on Sunday minutes before he was to tie the knot.Vasanth Kumar is said to have died due to cardiac arrest, police were told.

Stay in green house? Register for contest
If your apartment complex or villa is eco-friendly, here is a chance to get it recognized.

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Hyderabad

Plastic manhole pilot project to easily unclog jams
Workers emerging out of gutters, chest high in filth, after crawling through sewage to clear clogged manholes could be a thing of the past with Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) planning to install plastic ones in Marredpally division.

Rs 10,000 crore will normalise crunch in Telangana post-demonetisation
Another Rs 10,000 crore will ease cash troubles of banks in the state, officials said on Sunday. They said that only when the gap between demand and supply is bridged will things improve. Telangana has received Rs 34,000 crore as against Rs 52,000 crore deposited in old currency post demonetisation.

Staff Say Beverage Was Salty, Some Felt Uneasy
A storm has erupted over tea at the prestigious research and development (R&D) wing attached to the Indo-American Cancer Research Foundation (IACRF).

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Chennai

Native snacks are now just a click away
Craving some comfort food? No longer do you have to actually visit iruttu kadais to satisfy your cravings for the famous halwa from Tirunelveli or take a quick drive to Srivilliputtur to grab that scrumptious box of milk khoa.

Ennore oil spill could have been 1,000 times worse
For several days after two ships collided off the Ennore port in the early hours of January 28, there was a well-founded fear among port and shipping officials that the seriously damaged Dawn Kanchipuram would sink and spill all the 45,000 tonnes of petroleum products it was carrying into the sea.

Unease creeps into bureaucracy

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Ahmedabad

31st Gujarat Science Congress concludes

'Indian LIGO to be operational by 2024'

Paldi police lose two ASIs to heart attack on same day

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Allahabad

'WhatsApp' with poll code? Netas openly flout EC norms

City's medical aspirants up in arms over new NEET rules

Irked med fraternity mulls boycotting polls

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Bhubaneswar

Cop held in BJP worker murder case in Dhenkanal

Hollywood actor Ashley Judd to visit Odisha on February 7

3 killed, several injured in four separate accidents in Odisha

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Bhopal

Judge probing 'encounter' of SIMI men in MP 'resigns over poor infrastructure'

Bhopal schools hail Arun Jaitley's 'innovation fund'

Chinese 'spies' had married tribal girls
Wang Chi was reportedly captured by the Indian Army on January 3, 1963 after he walked into Indian territory.He was a mechanical survey engineer in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

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Chandigarh

Grandpa of Indian US community
Washington based Dr Sham sher Singh Babra, 90, is the grandfather of the three million-strong Indian community in the US.

Canadian artist raps his message home
A group of teenagers once told MC, pro ducer and music organiser Amrit Singh, popularly known as `Noyz', that they didn't believe Punjabi people could do great things in hip-hop music, but he proved them wrong. He found their response to his video most humbling and the greatest compliment.

Torturous trek to the American Dream
In 2013, Buta Singh, a 34-year-old Sikh left Punjab hoping for a new start in the United States.

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