BSF deploys women guards on Pakistan border in Punjab

Ferozepur (Punjab), Sep 11 (ANI): The Border Security Force (BSF) deployed the first batch of women guards on Pakistan border in Punjab.

The move would make foolproof body frisking at border check posts and farms lying across the border fence, said an official.

“The wives of our farmers cross the fencing at the border to carry out farming activities. We need to frisk them while going and coming back, which our male constables cannot do. So we have appointed women constables so that the security angle can be covered,” said H.S. Garcha, Commandant, 43 Battalion, BSF, Ferozepur.

These personnel have been given training in weapon handling, intelligence gathering, border management, unarmed combat, frisking and guard duties.

“I was always interested in joining the armed forces, I also had NCC in my college. Since then I had this in mind that if given an opportunity, I would definitely do something like this. I always wanted to wear this uniform,” said Randeep Ranju, a BSF constable.

BSF formed its first women’s battalion when 178 recruits passed out of the BSF’s Subsidiary Training Centre at Kharga near Hoshiarpur on July 25.

BSF plans to induct 35,000 women guards in the paramilitary force in the next four years. (ANI)

Abi Titmuss strikes sexy pose for 2010 calendar

London, September 10 (ANI): Abi Titmuss has left many jaws dropping after posing for this year’s batch of calendar babes.

The nurse-turned-glamour model was said to have dropped a self-imposed retirement for her 2010 special.

The 33-year-old left little to the imagination after dropping her layers, reports the Sun.

Abi has allegedly been more inclined towards her budding acting career over the last few months. (ANI)

Indian job seekers cheated in Malaysia return home

Chennai, Sep.6 (ANI): A group of technicians managed to return home here after suffering a raw deal by an unscrupulous labour agent in Malaysia.

The members of the group say they were cheated by an agent, who took them to Malaysia with a promise to get them good jobs and high salaries, but it was only after some time they realised that they he had duped them.

“We demanded our agreement papers from the agent at Chennai Airport. The agent told us that he has already faxed the papers and we would receive them at the Kuala Lumpur Airport. We asked for our papers at the Kuala Lumpur Airport, we were told us that we would get them only when we cleared the qualifying exam of the company…we have already cleared the test, they are cheating us. They hired us for the post of welders but they want us to work on the post of a helper,” said Savanth Kumar Singh, one of the victims.

A social worker proved a major help to the victimised group, as he ensured food and other things of necessities for them.

“We were left with a little money to meet our daily expenses…they (Indian Embassy Officials) made our temporary arrangement at a temple, they provide us with food for two days but the other days we were left unattended…A social worker named Kamal Nathan provide us food, whenever Indian embassy failed to provide the food, then he feed us, he helped us immensely,” said Mahendra Deshmukh, another victim.

Thousands of unemployed Indians are duped by manpower sourcing agents who promise a well-paid job in Malaysia and Gulf countries.

Another batch of 11 technicians was expected to arrive on Sunday (September 06). (ANI)

Malay Indian restaurants to have no more cooks from India

Kuala Lumpur, Aug 13 (ANI): Malaysia’s Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam has said that Indian restaurants will mostly have Malaysian, and not Indian cooks.

He said there has been an encouraging response from locals to being trained as cooks under a ministry programme.

“We hope to reduce the number of cooks from India in stages, especially in Indian restaurants, once the first batch of locally-trained chefs graduate,” he told reporters after visiting the CQ Tec College here yesterday.

The college received its first batch of 25 trainees for an intensive, six-month programme in June, The Star reported.

Subramaniam said the fees for the trainees were borne by the ministry through the Human Resources Development Fund, adding that they would also receive monthly allowances.

“Once they graduate, they will be able to open their own restaurants,” he said, adding that the future was promising for Indian youths of Malaysian origin.

He said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who wanted the ministry to train local chefs and not depend on cooks from India, mooted the idea.

Another training programme undertaken by the ministry was hair styling, to replace barbers from India.

“We want the two sectors (restaurants and hair salons/barber shops) to rely less on foreign workers and employ locally-trained people,” he said. (ANI)

YCMOU ~ YCMOU TYBA & TYBCom Education Exam Result ~ YCMOU TYBA & TYBCom Exam Result 2009 ~ Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University Education ~ ycmou.digitaluniversity.ac.in

YCMOU ~ YCMOU TYBA & TYBCom Education Exam Result ~ YCMOU TYBA & TYBCom Exam Result 2009 ~ Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University Education ~ ycmou.digitaluniversity.ac.in

Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University has declared English and Marathi results for regular & repeater batch 2009

These Results Are available on Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University website – http://ycmou.digitaluniversity.ac/Content.aspx?ID=861

BEST OF LUCK !!!

Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University Education ~ Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University ~ YCMOU Education ~ YCMOU 2009 Result and Marks ~ 2009 YCMOU result ~ YCMOU 2009 results

Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University Education ~ Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University ~ YCMOU Education ~  YCMOU 2009 Result and Marks  ~  2009 YCMOU result ~ YCMOU 2009 results

Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University has declared English and Marathi results for regular & repeater batch 2009

These Results Are available on Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University website – http://ycmou.digitaluniversity.ac/Content.aspx?ID=861

Wimbledon final tickets being sold for 8,500 pounds

London, July 3 (ANI): Tickets for the Wimbledon men’s final are being sold for 8,500 pounds each.ccording to The Sun, Wimbledon top brass have pledged to prosecute black market touts trying to cash in on Murray mania.

But well-heeled debenture holders who provide funds for Wimbledon can sell their tickets.

An All England Club spokesman said: “It is thanks to debenture holders that we can undertake projects like the Centre Court roof. In return, we think it only fair that these investors are allowed to trade their tickets if they want to.

“But I must point out that most debentures are bought by out-and-out tennis enthusiasts.”

Wimbledon themselves actively encourage the sale of debenture tickets by approving a website set up especially for the purpose of selling on the ‘white market’.

But ticket agencies get in through the back door by snapping up unwanted debenture holders’ seats so they can make booming profits from enthusiasts.

The All England Club issues debentures every five years to raise funds for capital expenditure.

The last batch in 2006 realized 46 million pounds and each single debenture cost 23,150 pounds. (ANI)

Raman Srivastava appointed as next DG of BSF

New Delhi, July 1 (ANI): Raman Srivastava has been appointed as the next Director General (DG) of the Border Security Force (BSF).

Srivastava will replace M.L.Kumawat who retires on July 31. He will be the Director General of the BSF from August 1 until his superannuation on October 31, 2011 or till further orders.

Currently, Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Srivastava is an IPS officer of the 1973 batch and belongs to the Kerala Cadre. (ANI)

Shanghai firm rolls out antiviral drug to combat swine flu

Shanghai, June 27 (ANI): A pharmaceutical company in Shanghai has rolled out the first batch of antiviral drugs to combat Influenza A (H1N1) virus, which is responsible for the swine flu pandemic around the world.

The Shanghai Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd. has manufactured 256,000 Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules, after all the quality tests required were passed.

“The antiviral drug, or the Chinese version of Tamiflu by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding, was first produced in 2005 to cope with the bird flu outbreak with the authorization of Roche,” said Xinhua quoted Wu Jianwen, president of Shanghai Pharmaceutical, as saying.

The Shanghai Pharmaceutical had closed down production of Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules in 2007, however, following a call from the central government to combat the A(H1N1) flu, it resumed production of the pill in April 2009.

“Currently, we’ll be able to turn out 2 million pills per month, and we can expand the output capacity in the future if the flu epidemic shows new changes,” said Wu Jianwen.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, China has at least 570 confirmed cases of A(H1N1) flu, but no fatalities have been reported.

Meanwhile, China has also set up laboratory tests on the country’s first developed A(H1N1) flu vaccine, with the help of the seed virus that they have received from a World Health Organization (WHO) lab.

The vaccine will undergo a 14 day safety tests in labs and two-month of clinical tests from July. Subsequently, it is expected to be available in markets in September. (ANI)

Shri Amarnath Yatra suspended from Jammu

Jammu, June 24 (ANI): The ongoing Shri Amarnath Yatra had to be suspended from Jammu base camp on Wednesday due to a large number of devotees stranded at transit base camp at Baltal.

Over 15,000 pilgrims are stranded at the transit camp.

According to police officials in Jammu, “No batch was allowed to Baltal base camp from here today. The yatra was suspended as there is a heavy rush of stranded devotees at Baltal.”

Over 2,700 pilgrims have been left waiting for resumption of the Yatra at Jammu base camp in Bhagwati Nagar due to the suspension.

Jammu and Kashmir government and Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has set up three base camps at Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu, at Nunwan in Pahalgam and at Baltal to arrange for boarding and lodging facilities to pilgrims visiting cave shrine.

While, Jammu base camp facilitates boarding and lodging for over 20,000 pilgrims at a time, Baltal and Nunwan can house over 5,000 pilgrims at a time.

About 70,000 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the 3888 mt Amarnath cave shrine till now.

On Tuesday, a high level team headed by SASB Chief Executive Officer B B Viyas carried out an aerial survey of the traditional Pahalgam route to take a final decision on opening of the route, which has been covered with snow for last few days, to the pilgrims.

The team has submitted its report on resumption of yatra via traditional Pahalgam route to Governor N N Vohra. (ANI)

Army foils militants’ plan to target Amarnath pilgrims

Jammu, June 22 (ANI): Army on Monday foiled militants bid to target the Amarnath yatra by defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

According to sources, militants had planted the high intensity IED in Panthal area to target a convoy of the Amarnath Yatra.

The cavalcade of 53 vehicles, which is carrying 1,703 pilgrims, was resumed after one hour-long halt at Panthal, 155 kms from Jammu.

With today’s batch, a total of 7,793 pilgrims have left Jammu for the Shrine since the beginning of the Yatra on June 15.

The yatra remained suspended for three days due to bad weather prevailing in Kashmir valley before resuming on June 19. (ANI)

Fresh batch of 1,703 Amarnath pilgrims leaves Jammu for holy shrine

Jammu, June 22 (ANI): A fresh batch of 1,703 pilgrims left Jammu on Monday for their onward journey to the holy Amarnath cave shrine.

The batch comprising of 1,185 men, 384 women, 61 children and 73 sadhus left in 53 vehicles, including 40 buses, from the base camp at Bhagwati Nagar here at around 4. 50 a.m.

With today’s batch, a total of 7,793 pilgrims have left Jammu for the Shrine since the beginning of the Yatra on June 15.

The yatra remained suspended for three days due to bad weather prevailing in Kashmir valley before resuming on June 19.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government and the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has set up three base camps at Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu, Nunwan in Pahalgam and Baltal for providing food and lodging facilities to pilgrims.

Located in Jammu and Kashmir, the Amarnath caves shrine is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Last year, over 450,000 pilgrims visited the cave. The two month long pilgrimage will conclude on August 5. (ANI)

Fresh batch of 1,395 Amarnath pilgrims leaves Jammu for holy shrine

Jammu, June 21 (ANI): A fresh batch of 1,395 pilgrims left here on Sunday for their onward journey to the holy Amarnath cave shrine.

The batch comprising 734 men, 305 women, 60 children and 295 sadhus left in 50 vehicles including 31 buses from the base camp at Bhagwati Nagar here at around 4:50 a.m.

With today’s batch, a total of 6090 pilgrims have left Jammu for the cave shrine since the beginning of the Yatra on June 15.

The yatra remained suspended for three days due to bad weather prevailing in Kashmir valley before resuming on June 19.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government and the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has set up three base camps at Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu, Nunwan in Pahalgam and Baltal for providing food and lodging facilities to pilgrims.

Located in Jammu and Kashmir, the Amarnath caves shrine is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Last year, over 450,000 pilgrims visited the cave. The two month long pilgrimage will conclude on August 5. (ANI)

A batch of 1,935 Amarnath pilgrims leaves Jammu for holy shrine

Jammu, June 20 (ANI): After initial weather related hindrances, a fresh batch of 1,935 pilgrims left Jammu on Saturday for its onward journey to the holy Amarnath cave shrine in Kashmir.

The batch comprises 852 men, 325 women, 54 children and 704 ascetics left from the base camp at Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu at around 0450 hours amid tight security, officials said. It will travel though the Baltal route.

A total of 4,695 pilgrims including Saturday’s batch have left Jammu for the cave shrine since the beginning of the Yatra on June 15.

Amarnath pilgrimage was obstructed for three days following bad weather prevailing in Kashmir valley before resuming on Friday.

Presently, the authorities were allowing only the Baltal route for the annual pilgrimage as the Pahalgam route has not been fully cleared of snow.

The Amarnath caves are one of the most famous shrines in Hinduism, dedicated to Lord Shiva, located in Jammu and Kashmir.

The holy shrine is claimed to be over 5,000 years old and forms an important part of ancient Hindu mythology. Inside the main Amarnath cave lies an ice stalagmite resembling the Shiva Linga, which waxes during May to August and gradually wanes thereafter.

This Shivalinga is said to grow and shrink with the phases of the moon. (ANI)

Children of Shepherds have a special school in Jharkhand

Dumka (Jharkhand), May 18 (ANI): A man in Jharkhand’s Dumka district is running a small school for the children of shepherd community from a small shelter to enable them become literate.

By running a free school for five years, Balmukund Yadav, who is in his thirties, has instilled hope among villagers that their children can be literate.

Yadav felt driven to educate village children after he personally faced much hardship to educate himself due to poverty. Thus, he resolved to educate other children of the area.

“I belong to a family where no one has even matriculated. Our society is backward. After seeing the hardships here, I thought it wouldn’t be enough if only I am educated here. I had an option of working elsewhere but I decided that I would teach the youngsters in our society who are in dire need of education,” said Balmukund Yadav, founder of school, Dumarthar.

There are presently 80 students belonging to Dumarthar and adjoining villages at this school. But the space and facilities notwithstanding, the small school is an ultimate hope for children here.

Having noticed Balmukund Yadav showing deep interest to enable village kids to read and write, villagers joined hands and raised a structure for the school. It resembles a large hut.

Located in Dumarthar Village of the district, this small school despite lacking basic facilities of any normal school, has been educating many children here.

Students as well as their parents or guardians are delighted to have a teacher who is dedicated and is eager to make the children learned.

“I did not even know the alphabets. After coming here I have learnt to read in English,” said Karamveer Kumar, a student of school set up by Balmukund Yadav in Dumarthar

The first batch from the school is set take grade X exams this year.

Meanwhile, Yadav hopes that the government will provide a proper school building and a library, as these students cannot afford books on their own. By Girija Shankar Ojha (ANI)

Navin Chawla takes over as CEC

New Delhi, Apr 21 (ANI): Election Commissioner Navin Chawla took over as the Chief Election Commissioner today, succeeding N. Gopalaswami who retired on Monday after serving in the Commission for five years.

Power Secretary V S Sampath also took charge as the Election Commissioner following the elevation of Chawla. Dr. S Y Qureshi already holds the post of Election Commissioner.

Chawla, who was appointed Election Commissioner on May the 16, 2005, will hold charge till July 29, 2010.

The outgoing CEC was given a warm farewell by Chawla and Dr. Qureshi along with the entire staff. Gopalaswami expressed hope that the Election Commission would uphold its sanctity and achieve new heights under the able leadership of Chawla.

The 63-year-old Chawla has taken over the position in the midst of the five-phased Lok Sabha elections and will have to oversee the remaining four phases of the polls.

Chawla, an IAS officer of the 1969 batch, had recently been in the news as Gopalaswami had unilaterally recommended his removal from the Election Commission on grounds of partisanship.

The recommendation was, however, rejected by the President on March 1, 2009.

The Chief Election Commissioner, a Constitutional post, enjoys a term of six years or till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

Chawla has served the government of India in various capacities. He had last been the Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

He has also worked as the Secretary of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

At the time of emergency, Chawla served as the secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

Chawla has also been the proud recipient of the Mazzini Award, which was presented to him by the Italian Government for his contribution in promoting ties between India and Italy. (ANI)

Seoul shares seen up helped by U.S. results

SEOUL, April 20 (Reuters) – Seoul shares may rise on Monday
after gains on Wall Street, with banks likely to be helped by
better-than-expected results from Citigroup (C.N), but caution
before a batch of key South Korean earnings could limit rises.

“The rises in U.S. stocks and U.S. results will help
sentiment. But Seoul stocks snapped a five-week gaining streak
last Friday and it seems caution is setting in,” said Kim
Hyoung-ryoul, a market analyst at NH Investment and Securities.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI)
finished down 0.58 percent at 1,329.00 points on Friday,
stumbling after five straight weekly gains.

“Investors will probably want to confirm a set of key
doemstic earnings this week, but since they are not expected to
be as bad as feared, we can hope for the return of weekly gains,”
Kim added.

Memory chip makers including Hynix Semiconductor (000660.KS)
may react to news that Taiwan’s Nanya Technology (2408.TW) would
cut its capital by 66.43 percent as it grapples with losses amid
a supply glut and falling demand. [ID:nTPU001299]

Lotte Group issues including Lotte Chilsung (005300.KS) may
be in the spotlight after a report that the retail-to-beverage
conglomerate would not submit a final offer for Oriental Brewery.
[ID:nHKG328220]
———————-MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2246 GMT ————

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S and P 500 .SPX 869.6 0.5% 4.300
USD/JPY JPY 99.2 0.04% 0.040
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT 2.9544 — 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU 867.4 -0.06% -0.500
US CRUDE CLc1 50.2 -0.26% -0.130
DOW JONES .DJI 8131.33 0.07% 5.90
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 99.56 0.42% 0.42
————————————————————-

MARKETS SUMMARY
*Dow ends best 6 wks since 1938 on economy hopes [nN17358750]
*Oil rises to over $50 on consumer confidence boost [nSIN431763]
*Dollar gains vs most majors, euro slumps on ECB [nN17275408]
*Benchmark Treasuries lose a full point in price [nNYD000473]

STOCKS TO WATCH

KUMHO TIRE (073240.KS)

The tiremaker said late on Friday it would suspend production
for three days amid falling global demand.

LG HAUSYS (108670.KS)

LG Hausys, a manufacturer of industrial materials spun off
from LG Chem (051910.KS), will be re-listed and start trading on
Monday.

(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

Salmonella from space providing clues to making food poisoning vaccine

Melbourne, Apr 16 (ANI): Analysing a batch of bacteria brought back by the shuttle Discovery crew last month, scientists could soon develop a vaccine against food poisoning from salmonella bacteria.

The researchers conducted a series of experiments aboard the International Space Station, and are now working to develop compounds for a salmonella vaccine

While previous studies showed that salmonella could become more virulent in weightlessness, further research proved that its virulence could be controlled, toggled on and off like a switch.

Station program scientist Dr. Julie Robinson has revealed that studies in this regard began only because NASA feared that its astronauts could be more susceptible to food poisoning in space due to their weakened immune systems, resulting from microgravity.

Later, the researchers found that microgravity changes salmonella itself, which could provide insight into a new way to possibly control the bacteria on earth.

“Given that salmonella is among the leading causes of food-borne pathogens, one of the disappointments of the 21st century is that we don’t have a vaccine,” ABC Science quoted Arizona State University’s Dr Cheryl Nickerson as saying.

Nickerson heads one of the research teams investigating salmonella in space, which identified genetic changes in space-borne salmonella that made the bacteria more virulent than identical samples on earth.

And as the environment inside the intestines is similar to weightlessness, the researchers believe that the study could give rise to a vaccine and other treatments for food poisoning.

Last year, a second series of salmonella investigations flew aboard the space station.

Led by Professor Timothy Hammond at the Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center in North Carolina, the research is aimed at developing a vaccine based on the genetic changes seen in the space-borne bacteria. (ANI)

Russia delivers first batch of nuclear fuel to India

Vinay Shukla Moscow, Apr 10 (PTI) Under a multi-million dollar long-term nuclear fuel supply deal between Moscow and New Delhi, Russia has delivered the first batch of 30 metric tonnes of uranium pellets to India. “Thirty metric tonnes of pellets have been delivered to Hyderabad-based Nuclear Fuel Complex for the production of fuel for ‘Rajasthan’ NPP,” Russia’s ‘Atomenergoprom’ said in a statement.

Under the USD 700 million contract inked between Russia’s TVEL Corporation and India’s Department of Atomic Energy in February, this is the first batch of Uranium Dioxide pellets delivered to Nuclear Fuel Complex. One of the largest nuclear fuel producers in the world, TVEL is a wholly owned subsidiary of ‘Atomenergoprom’.

Under the deal, it would supply the uranium pellets to fuel pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) in India. TVEL would also ensure life-cycle supply of fuel for the light-water VVER reactors of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

Russia is currently completing the assembly of first two VVER-1000 reactors with total two Megawatt capacity at Kudankulam. Under the deal inked in December 2008 during President Dmitry Medvedev’s maiden India visit, Russia will build four more reactors to meet India’s growing energy requirements.

Obama to approve release of Reagan records on Monday

Washington, Apr 11 (ANI): President Barack Obama is ordering the release of nearly 250,000 pages of records from the Reagan White House years that were kept away from the public eye during a lengthy review by former President George W. Bush.

The Reagan documents, which include presidential briefing papers, speechwriting research materials and declassified foreign policy records, are expected to be released on Monday.

Officials said that the Obama Administration’s quick verdict on the documents was prompted by an executive order that Obama signed in January that gives the incumbent president 30 days to make such a decision, unless he sets out a longer period.

By contrast, Bush’s executive order on presidential records set no time limit on the White House’s review, Politico reports.

“With regard to the Reagan Administration records, I am writing to inform you that the President has not asserted executive privilege over any of this material,” White House Counsel Greg Craig told Politico.

A smaller batch of 797 pages from President George H.W. Bush’s presidential library on the topic of Saudi Arabia also has been cleared for release on Monday.

In recent years, historians and open-government groups complained bitterly that the review process President George W. Bush instituted was causing a backlog that was stalling the release of tens of thousands of pages of presidential records.

“The cynical view is that the process is deliberately inefficient,” Thomas Blanton of the National Security Archive testified at a Congressional hearing on the issue in 2007. (ANI)