CURRENT AFFAIRS: 07/20/11

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Rude Surgeons Hurt Patients, Increase Costs

WEDNESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- The behavior of surgeons in the operating room affects more than their patients' health, new research indicates.

Breathing Problems Strike Soldiers Returning From Iraq

WEDNESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Some U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering unexplained breathing problems that may be related to exposure to unknown toxins, a new study indicates.

Pregnant mums who use nicotine gum to kick the butt 'harming unborn babies'

London, July 21 (ANI): Scientists have claimed that pregnant women who use nicotine patches and gum to help kick off their smoking habit are putting their unborn babies at risk.

They said the foetus absorbs the addictive substance and this can cause high blood pressure and heart problems later in life.

How healthy is your school? Chandigarh to show way

Chandigarh, July 21 (IANS) Toilets, disaster preparedness, first-aid knowledge...these are among various criteria to help categorise many Chandigarh schools under a unique initiative to ensure healthy surroundings in these institutions, government or private.

In times when Bollywood celebs have perfected the art of squeezing public platforms to garner maximum publicity, actress Kajal seems to be least bothered by the trend.

It seems all is not well between the BAND BAAJA BARAAT leads Anuskha Sharma and Ranvir Singh. Recently at the IIFA Awards 2011 the two were seen showing cold shoulders to each other. This is mainly because success and jealously has come in the middle of the "love birds".

SINGHAM is one of the quickest remakes to have been made in recent times. While the Tamil version had released last year with Suriya and Anushka as the lead couple, within a year the Hindi version is also ready. However one does wonder whether SINGHAM in Hindi is exactly the same as Tamil or have all-India sensibilities been kept in mind during the remake.

Is it going to be Shahrukh Khan v/s Shahrukh Khan over next few months? That's the buzz in the town ever since the First Look of

Now this is something new. Since Prakash Jha's next film, AARAKSHAN was shot in Bhopal for over two months, the entire unit had ended up bonding like family. So when the time came to wrap up the shoot, Amitabh Bachchan decided to give the rather hard working members of his new surrogate family a night to remember.

Controversial model Poonam Pandey, who promised to shed her clothes if India won the cricket World Cup but didn't do so, has reportedly been offered a whopping Rs 2 crore for the next season ofBigg Boss as her presence is expected to add spice and boost TRPs.

Colors today announced its big plans for its marquee format show - Bigg Boss. This year, the channel has signed both, the DABBANG Salman Khan as well as the MUNNABHAI Sanjay Dutt as hosts for Bigg Boss Season-5. This is the first time in the history of Bigg Boss in India that 2 top Bollywoodsuperstars would be hosting the season.

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd, India's No.3 software services exporter, forecast growth below market expectations, signalling the widening gap between Indian technology firms and their bigger global rivals in winning new deals in a tough economy.

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia arrested the last major war crimes suspect from the 1990s Yugoslav conflicts on Wednesday, closing what its president called a "burdensome" page in the country's history and boosting its hopes of joining the European Union.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed 13 people in attacks in the city of Homs on Tuesday, residents said, an escalation of a crackdown against a focal point for pro-democracy protests.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Special Committee, responding to a letter from two U.S. senators, said it had found at News Corp's Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires no sign of journalistic wrongdoing like the phone-hacking scandal at its British newspapers.

Kochi, July 20 (IANS) The Kerala High Court Wednesday directed Air India to pay interim compensation of Rs.75 lakh each to the kin of 158 passengers who died in an air crash in Mangalore last year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With executives from News Corp and some of its subsidiaries heading for the exits, legal bills from the phone-hacking scandal rocking the company are no doubt stacking up.

But depending on the companies' directors and officers insurance coverage, News Corp and its divisions aren't likely to be responsible for paying the lawyers' fees.

Tehran, July 21 (IANS/AKI) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to destroy the US and Israel and send them to the 'morgue' if Iran is put on the defensive.

New Delhi, July 20: A 31-year-old Telangana supporter allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree near India Gate early today, frustrated over the delay in granting statehood to the region.

Police said the deceased, identified as Mandadi Adhireddy, was a resident of Moinabad village in Rangareddy.

Bangalore, July 21 (IANS) Karnataka stares at bitter political battles, instability and possible early assembly elections as the Lokayukta prepares to submit his 'explosive' report on illegal mining within 10 days.

New Delhi, July 20 (ANI): The Delhi police on Wednesday questioned Sohail Hindustani, a suspect and an alleged middleman for his role in the case in the cash-for-vote scam case of 2008 in New Delhi.

Speaking to mediapersons, Hindustani, said he had acted as a middleman between Amar Singh, along with other leaders and the low-key lawmakers to whom cash was paid.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co launched a thinner and lighter version of its Galaxy tablet in its lucrative home market on Wednesday, trying to halt the runaway success of Apple Inc's iPad.

I saw a Hollywood movie about relationships and love. In one scene, a man and a woman meet in a department store and strike up a conversation over the cash register which continues till they walk out. Standing on the sidewalk, they talk, like any two strangers who’ve just met, of things that interest the other and ooh and aah over what they have in common. Then, just on the verge of that crucial ‘ask for her number’ moment, the guy shrugs and says,“I can’t do this. I’m married.”

London, July 20 (IANS) India are the No.1 cricketing nation in every respect andEngland are out to challenge this on the field in a cracker of a four-Test series that gets underway at Lord's Thursday. It'll be the 100th Test between the two nations and the 2,000th of the cricket world.

Another brazen attack. Another fearsome mauling. Another leopard branded a man-eater pays for its crimes against humanity.

You've read the news. Now, will you teach your kids to kill leopards on sight? Or will you join cause with the (seemingly hare-brained) minority and cry yourself hoarse to protect leopards from humans?

Decide. We're out of time.

London, July 19 (ANI): In what is sure to make Apple proud of its gadgets, one of their iPhone 4 units, which recently slipped out of a skydiver's pocket, survived intact after a 13,500-ft fall to the ground. That's not all, it can still make and receive calls!

Katrina Kaif is all set to sizzle in an item number in Salman Khan’s 'Bodyguard'
After the success of 'Sheila Ki Jawaani', Katrina Kaif is all set to sizzle in ex-boyfriend Salman Khan’s film ‘Bodyguard’. The actress will perform during the opening credits of the film a la James Bond films.

Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), July 20 (ANI): Akshat, a baby boy over the age of one, registered his name in the Guinness world records for having a total of 34 fingers and toes.

He has set the record for having the highest number of fingers and toes and hails from the Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh.

NEW DELHI: Indian-owned Blackburn Rovers are set to become the first English Premier League side to play in India, taking part in an exhibition match in the western city of Pune later this month.

Blackburn pull-out was an over-reaction: Indian official

Blackburn Rovers' last-minute postponement of their tour of India due to safety concerns was an over-reaction, a senior Indian soccer official said on Tuesday.
Last Wednesday's three near-simultaneous bomb blasts during the evening rush hour in Mumbai, which killed 20 people, prompted the Premier League club to put off the tour for the moment.

Bhutia set to return

Bhaichung Bhutia is set to make a return to the Indian football squad as he was named in the 32 probables for the three-match series against arch-rivals Pakistan in England starting August 25. The tour, which has been dubbed as ‘Clash of the Titans ends on Sept 11 with matches to be held in Manchester, Coventry and London.

A day before India and England lock horns in the first cricket Test of one of the most-anticipated series of the season at Lords, off-spinner Graeme Swann has said the home team should tailor the pitches to play to their advantage.

Cricketers waited to see 2000th Test unfold

MELBOURNE: Cricketers the world over are waiting with bated breath to see India and England play the 2000th Test match at the Lord's in London.

I wrote this morning that David Cameron faced a big test today. For two or three days, difficult gossip had been spreading between Tory MPs about the PM’s recent performance. There was even, particularly worryingly, talk of an early election. That will all stop now – Dave has just received a rapturous reception at the 1922, with close to a minute’s worth of desk-banging at each end, and waves of laughter in the middle.

MPs have been discussing the phone hacking scandal – and public confidence in the media and police in the fallout – in the Commons after David Cameron's statement on the affair.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday shared Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's concern over the plight of internally-displaced Sri Lankan Tamils living in camps and told her that the U.S. was looking at “innovative and creative ideas” in breaking the impasse.

Ms. Clinton's response came when Ms. Jayalalithaa observed that even though the war in Sri Lanka was over two years ago, Tamils in Jaffna were still unable to go back to their homes.

India, US ink an agreement on cyber security

NEW DELHI: With terrorists increasingly resorting to hacking and using internet for communications, India and the US Tuesday inked an agreement to promote increased collaboration in cyber security.

With a price tag Rs. 32,999, finally Asus has launched the TF101 Eee Pad Transformer, also named as Honeycomb. The price would be offered for the 16GB WI-Fi model but Asus had confirmed that in the same price range, the docking station would also be included.

SEOUL, South Korea—Samsung plans to roll out its top line Galaxy S II smartphone in the United States next month.

Mac OS X Lion pounces

Computerworld - Apple today launched OS X Lion, the first major upgrade to its operating system software in two years.

Nokia's E-series phones have done two things to BlackBerry: first, they've given the latter a run for its money and second, they've proved to it that business phones need not be ugly. Nokia E71 had takers from not only the corporate areas but even the college-goers started loving it. Its successor E72 also enjoyed considerable success. And then came the E5 which is often touted as the “BlackBerry Killer”.

NAIROBI: The United Nations said on Wednesday that famine has hit two parts of rebel-held Somalia, due to a severe drought affecting more than 10 million people in the Horn of Africa.

SHANGHAI — Wendi Deng, who has emerged as an unlikely heroine after leaping to defend her 80-year-old husband Rupert Murdoch from a pie-wielding protester, has a reputation for fierce loyalty and ambition.

Her full-blooded swing at her husband's assailant during a British parliamentary hearing on the News of the World phone hacking scandal has catapulted the former volleyball player into the global spotlight.

An Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday that all 15 foreigners aboard an intercepted Gaza-bound yacht will return home by the end of the day.

Sabine Haddad said one person already has flown out.

Hyderabad: Cash, gold and silver continue to tumble out of cupboards in the late Sathya Sai Baba's residential quarters in Puttaparthi town of Andhra Pradesh, with valuables worth nearly Rs 59 crore being found so far in three rounds of counting.

Protests are brewing in the Valley over the arrest of a college student who is to get married on July 23 over alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba links. Ignoring separatist warnings for her release, the Jammu and Kashmir Police today got her police remand extended till July 26 — three days after her wedding date.

The following three events have contributed to the growth of militancy, often amounting to terrorism, in the Indian Muslim community, particularly among its young members:

Community policing and strict control over the sale and distribution of explosives and detonators will go a long way in curbing the menace, says Colonel Anil Athale (retd)

The Mumbai bomb blasts of July 13 were a reminder that war declared on us is not over yet. Right at the outset it must be clearly understood that what the terrorists aim at (how so ever improbable it may sound) nothing short of destruction of India as we know it.

The morning after Wednesday's terror attacks, Mumbai was back on its feet as people went to office and children attended schools. The question is - is it the spirit of Mumbai at work or has the city learnt to live with terror?

Mumbai Blasts: NIA In touch with state police

BANGALORE: The Maharashtra antiterror squad (ATS) and the national investigating agency (NIA) are in constant touch with the state police in connection with the recent serial blasts in Mumbai.

According to sources, the NIA officials had visited Bangalore recently and questioned some of the inmates of Parappana Agrahara who were accused in IISc attack and Bangalore serial bomb blasts.

New Delhi: Former CVC P J Thomas today withdrew from the Delhi High Court his plea for direction to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to decide his representation against the Supreme Court order sacking him. "I seek to withdraw my petition," Wills Mathews, the counsel for Thomas told Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, seeking to withdraw his plea from the court.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Sikkim high court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran’s fresh petition challenging the impeachment inquiry committee’s order allowing a private organisation to participate in the probe proceedings while the Rajya Sabha chairman inducted a new member in the probe panel in place of advocate P.P. Rao.

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has reconstituted a panel probing charges against Sikkim High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran following the Supreme Court directions to remove jurist P P Rao from the committee.

There will be no further arrest of any sex workers as prostitution is going to be regularized in India. The new law will allow sex workers to live with dignity in the society.

Bangalore: A minister in the Karnataka government said recently, "No Indian who has values can oppose the Bhagavad Gita. Only those who love to adopt western culture can oppose the Gita. Such persons may well quit the country."

Kageri breached his oath: Minority Group

BANGALORE: Angered by the Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri's statement on the teaching of Bhagwad Gita in primary, secondary and high schools, the State Minorities Educational Institutions Management Federation met Governor H Bharadwaj on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum regarding the issue.

Telangana Congress leaders to meet Azad

HYDERABAD: Members of the Telangana Congress steering committee, who refused to meet Union minister and AICC general secretary in charge of AP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad in Delhi on Monday, changed their mind on Wednesday and decided to meet him in New Delhi on July 21.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was said to have, on Tuesday, counselled the Congress State Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and ex-MLCs from Seemandhra regions, who are opposing bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, to have patience till the Centre decided on the vexatious Telangana issue.

CHICAGO Dozens of sealed court papers from a recent Chicago trial related to the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attacks will be released publicly, a federal judge in Chicago ruled Tuesday, though it's unclear whether they'll contain any new revelations.

India to send team to US to gather info about Headley, Rana

India will soon send a team to the United States to gather more information about the activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley and his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who are accused of giving material support to 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, and their confessional statements.

Noida: The issue of land acquisition is slowly turning into a major headache for the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh. The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday, in another major setback for the state government, scrapped the latter's decision to acquire 589 hectares of land in the Patwari village in Noida Extension.

Mumbai: A 52-year-old Marol resident allegedly strangled both his parents, stayed with the corpses for two days, ate and drank beside them, and even tucked them in as if they were asleep, before fleeing the house when the bodies started rotting.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

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