‘Dirty Dancing’ town planning memorial for Patrick Swayze

London, Sep 19 (ANI): Locals of a North Carolina community, where Patrick Swayze’s film ‘Dirty Dancing’ was shot, are planning a memorial service for the late star.

The ‘Ghost’ star died on Monday evening after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The town of Lake Lure will pay homage to the 57-year-old during a memorial service on Saturday evening at Firefly Cove, a housing development that was Camp Chimney Rock when ‘Dirty Dancing’ was filmed.

Many outdoor scenes in the film were filmed there, as was the cabin of Johnny Castle, Swayze’s character.

While the memorial service is free, visitors will be asked to donate to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Rev Everette Chapman, who will be speaking at the memorial service, said that the town’s residents remember Swayze as a kind family man.

Chapman, who lived at Lake Lure when the movie was filmed but did not meet the actors, said he would talk about Swayze’s determination to live each day to the fullest.

“I’ll ask people their memory of him and just talk about him as every woman’s heart-throb and every man’s envy,” said Chapman.

Although organisers have no idea how many people to expect, they have still arranged for police officers to help with parking. (ANI)

SC extends stay on Kanshi Ram memorial construction

New Delhi, Sep. 18 (ANI): Expressing dissatisfaction over the Mayawati Government’s plea, the Supreme Court on Friday extended the stay order on its earlier ruling for stoppage of work at Kanshi Ram Memorial Sthal in Lucknow.

“The affidavit is not satisfactory. The question here has many, many burning issues,” it observed during a brief hearing in the case,” a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and Aftab Alam noted.t said the question was whether one could spend so much of money from the state or public exchequer for the purpose.

“Suppose today the legislature decides that 80 per cent of budgetary allocation should be spent on such works of memorials and statues…is it not justiciable,” the Bench asked.

“Serious questions arise in this petition…the cabinet and the legislature have to act under the Constitution,” the Bench added.

The next hearing in the case is on October 5th, and the parties are asked to file their responses to the affidavit by September 29th.

In a detailed affidavit filed in response to the show cause notice issued on September 11, the state government had claimed it had the highest regard for the apex court and that it believed in carrying out its directions in “letter and spirit.”

On September 8, the apex court had ruled that no further construction activities should take place at the memorials which have cost the exchequer 2,600 crore rupees.

However, media reports said construction activities were going on in full swing despite the court’s directive, following which the bench had issued a show cause notice. (ANI)

22 killed, 60 injured in NWFP suicide blast

Islamabad, Sep.18 (ANI): At least 22 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in a suicide attack in Kohat on Friday.

According to eye witnesses, the attack took place near a bus stop where the attacker blew himself up inside a vehicle loaded with powerful explosives.

The blast was so powerful that it destroyed several hotels and small shops located near the bus stop on the Hangu Road in Kacchapakka.

Relief and rescue teams rushed to the spot immediately after the incident, while the injured persons have been shifted to the Liaquat Memorial and Division Hospitals.

Traffic on the Hangu road has been suspended completely after people started pelting stones on passing vehicles following the blast, The News reported. (ANI)

MJ Vienna tribute gig postponed

London, September 12 (ANI): The concert in honour of Michael Jackson slated to take place in Vienna this month has been rearranged for London in June next year.

The singer’s brother Jermaine previously named a host of artists who would perform at the tribute that was set to take place in front of former imperial Schoenbrunn Palace on September 26.

But the former ‘Jackson 5′ member revealed many top artists were unavailable for the date due to prior commitments.

“Numerous stars were just not able to change their schedules to make a live appearance at the Vienna event possible,” the BBC quoted him as saying.

He added: “Many artists and performers who I have spoken to personally told me that it would be a great honour to be part of this memorial concert for my late brother.

“However, due to the short time-frame it was not possible for many of them to change their schedule so that they could be on stage in Vienna on 26 September, therefore we decided, after careful consideration, to change the date of the tribute concert to June 2010 – just a few weeks before the first anniversary of his untimely death.

“Now we have eight months to put this monumental show together and not just eight weeks.”

Organisers World Tribute Productions promised a refund to all ticket holders for the Vienna concert.

Spokeswoman Nina Elland also said: “We need time to confirm the location. We are definitely moving to London and Wembley Stadium is our favourite location.” (ANI)

US marks eighth anniversary of 9/11 terror strike

New York, Sep 11(ANI): The eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, which killed nearly 3,000 people, was observed here on Friday.

On September 11, 2001, four hijacked planes crashed into the twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.

Memorial ceremonies are to be held at these sites and four moments of silence are observed, at 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m., 9:59 a.m. and 10:29 a.m. ET, as these were the timings when the attacks took place.

President Barack Obama attended the wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon, where 184 people died.

The names of more than 2,700 victims from the site were also read by family members and volunteers at the New York ceremony, which was attended by U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden.

For the first time, the anniversary was designated as a National Day of Service. On Thursday, Obama issued a proclamation honouring those who died and had urged Americans to mark the anniversary with acts of community service.

Remembering those who lost their lives on the tragic day, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said: “It is the sacred duty of the living to carry within us the memories of those we lost. While there is pain in remembering the loss, there is sweetness in remembering their lives.” (ANI)

Janet Jackson finally speaks up after MJ’s death

London, September 11 (ANI): Singer Janet Jackson has finally broken her silence following the death of her brother and King of Pop Michael Jackson.

She revealed that she hasn’t watched TV news since the pop legend’s demise.

The ‘Nasty’ hitmaker said that continuous coverage in the US, “will drive you crazy”, adding: “Not everyone is stone.”

Janet mentioned that she was “really proud” of her niece Paris for speaking on the public memorial of her father.

The pop star added that that she had met her brother six weeks before he died.

“We had so much fun that day. We kept calling each other after and saying how great it was,” the BBC quoted her as telling Harper’s Bazaar magazine.

Janet was working on a film in Atlanta when Michael died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles on June 25. (ANI)

A docudrama plays a story of women cricketers’ struggle and triumph

Kolkata, Sep 9 (ANI): A docudrama titled ‘Indian Women’s Cricket team Poor Cousins of Million Dollar Babies’ highlights the disparity between men and women cricket players in India.

As the title suggests, the docudrama shows how while men cricketers hog all the limelight and bask in the glory of success and money, women cricketers are way behind their male counterparts though they have been able to carve a name for themselves in the international sport arena.

The 25-minute audio-visual commentary narrates a story of the triumph of women’s cricket despite the disparities and differential treatment.

Former Indian Skipper Anjum Chopra said the docudrama has been able to mirror the women cricketers’ struggle, hard work and determination to reach the milestone they have achieved despite receiving far less attention of sports authority, sponsorship and media coverage as compared with their male counterparts.

“I really liked it. I think it’s very nice. It covers a lot of angels into the lives of women cricketers on and off the field. It’s a true depiction of the lives and struggles of Indian women cricketers go through,” Anjum Chopra added.

The The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI ) spends millions of rupees on men’s cricket and its stalwart players but women’s team, which has consistently done well in the context of world tournaments, has not received the same attention and promotion.

Sunil Yash Kalra, who has directed the documentary, said it’s time to tell the story of players engaged in the most popular and fast growing game in India despite their gender.

“It’s a sport which is a nerve centre of India, the subcontinent. And, it’s also included in the Asian Games next year. So, basically if you were to look at it… A, it’s the fastest growing game. B, there is a story that needs to be told about each individual member, that’s what the idea is to showcase the best to the rest of the world,” Kalra added.

The film also reveals interesting facts about women’s cricket in India. For example, women’s cricket in India can be traced back to early 20th century when an Australian school teacher Anne Kelleve made cricket a compulsory game at the Baker Memorial School in Kottayam, Kerala, in 1913.

The Women’s World Cup was initiated in 1973, two years before the men’s World Cup. And, Indian eves played T20 international cricket in 2006 while Indian men played their first match in 2007. (ANI)

MJ finally buried to rest in peace

London, Sep 4 (ANI): King of Pop Michael Jackson was finally been buried at the Forest Lane cemetery in Los Angeles, while the world media covered a part of the final service.

Almost two-dozen cars with members of Jackson family inside entered the gates of the cemetery about an hour late than the scheduled time.

Hollywood celebritiesm including Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Macaulay Culkin and Jackson’s ex-wife Lisa-Marie Presley, were waiting inside the memorial park along with 200 guests on white wooden chairs arranged outside one of the many ornate buildings on this site.rogrammes containing pictures of Michael Jackson were being played, while the guests were fanning themselves in the night heat.

After the family arrived, the ‘Thriller’ star’s mother Katherine and father Joe sat down in the front row, while his three children sat between their grandparents and an upset Janet Jackson.amily members wore black armbands and his brothers stood at the front, ready to repeat their roles as pall-bearers.

They had walked beside their brother’s coffin at the memorial service in July and did the same at the burial.

And after everyone was seated, Jackson’s coffin was driven in by hearse, unloaded and wheeled into place.

His three children walked up to it and gave a brief farewell after which the media was asked to switch off the cameras for a private service as per the family’s request.

The service lasted around an hour and cars departed swiftly.

Earlier in the day, police had sealed off part of the area and even enforced a no-fly zone to keep news helicopters from buzzing overhead.

They had warned fans to stay away. (ANI)

Exhibition glorifying female Palestinian bombers generates outrage

Jerusalem, Sep. 4 (ANI): Organizers of an art exhibition had to take down portraits depicting female Palestinian suicide bombers as the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus after the families of those killed or wounded in the attacks protested.

The controversial exhibition, which featured the work of artists Galina Bleich and Liliah Check, displayed a series of paintings of the bombers rendered to look like Renaissance-era portraits of Catholic saints, The Jerusalem Post reports.

The exhibition opened at Sokolov House press center in Tel Aviv agreed to take the portraits down, but another section – sand and dirt that had been taken from the scenes of the bombings and spread out across canvas – remained on the gallery’s walls.

The victims’ families expressed outrage over both the content of the exhibition and the fact that the headquarters of the Israeli Journalists Association, had agreed to show it.

Dalit Levy, whose 17-year-old stepdaughter Rachel was killed in a suicide bombing as she shopped at the Supersol supermarket in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Hayovel, arrived outside Sokolov House on Thursday afternoon with an Israeli flag draped over her shoulders.

“You want art?” she asked a group of reporters who had gathered around her. “Here’s art!” she said, before spilling a can of red paint next to a photograph of her stepdaughter and two memorial candles. “This is the blood of our children!”

Almagor, The Association for Terror Victims in Israel, also issued a stern response to the exhibit, and threatened to take legal action if the portraits were not taken down.

“We’ve contacted the attorney-general and asked him to take legal action against the exhibition’s representatives. Any action that strengthens or praises the murderous acts of terrorism is violating the law and hurting the general public by legitimising the murders,” he said.

Indor said his group was worried the artists would try to show the exhibit elsewhere.

“We’ve been in contact with the artists, and made it clear that we want them to add information to the material so that people will understand that this is not promoting terrorism, but against it,” he said. (ANI)

Mariah Carey regrets apologising for shaky performance at MJ’s memorial

London, Sep 2 (ANI): Mariah Carey has said that she regrets apologising for her shaky performance at Michael Jackson’s memorial service by writing on her Twitter blog.

The ‘Hero’ hit-maker was the first singer who went on stage at the ‘Thriller’ star’s memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in July.

Carey, who was close friends with the ‘Thriller’ star, sang classic Jackson 5 hit ‘I’ll Be There’ at the service, while struggling to hit the notes as she fought back tears during her performance.

After the show, she explained on her Twitter.com blog how she became overemotional when she saw Jackson’s gold coffin below the stage.

“Trying to sing today was basically impossible for me. I could barely keep myself from crying. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to pull it together and really do it right, but I was literally choked up when I saw him (Michael) there in front of me,” the Daily Express quote Carey as having written at the time.

And now, the singer is saying that she should not have publicly spoken out about her performance.

She, however, feels blessed that she was given the chance to sing at Jackson’s send off.

“I regret sending that message but I was very emotional and I wasn’t happy with my performance. But we all did our best to give Michael the send off he deserves. I just forgot the world could read that. I thought I was just talking to my friends. I shouldn’t have done that because that was really only meant for Michael. That was about him,” said Carey.

She added: “It was difficult just to get through the song because I feel as if I have been listening to Michael Jackson’s music my whole life. When I was a little kid I used to sing all his songs.

The whole world suffered a huge loss. The whole world is going to feel this forever. I feel myself blessed to have known him, to have performed with him several times and to have sung at his memorial.” (ANI)

Obama to observe 9/11 anniversary at Pentagon

Washington, Sep 2 (ANI): President Barack Obama plans to observe the anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks with a visit to the Pentagon.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters about Obama’s plans on Tuesday. Obama, however, has no plans to visit New York in the eighth year since the World Trade Center was destroyed.

“I believe he will go to the Pentagon that day, and go to the memorial there and speak after that,” Gibbs said in his morning gaggle.

“But we have not announced more details than that,” Politico quoted him, as saying.

Asked after the gaggle if the president has any plans to visit New York City for the occasion, a White House official said he does not and that is unlikely to change.

President George W. Bush marked the 9/11 anniversary with visits to lower Manhattan in 2002 and 2006.

Last year, Obama and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), then Obama’s rival for the presidency, both attended a memorial ceremony at the World Trade Center site as Bush dedicated a memorial at the Pentagon. (ANI)

Saraswat takes charge as new DRDO chief

New Delhi, Sep 1 (ANI): Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, who is in charge of the development of missile and strategic systems in the country, today took charge as scientific adviser to Defence Minister AK Antony and will also serve as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

Dr. Saraswat, who replaced the present incumbent M Natarajan on September 1, will also serve as Secretary Department of Defence Research and Development,.

He is presently Chief Controller Research and Development (Missiles and Strategic Systems) since November 2005 in DRDO.

In this capacity, he spearheaded the development of country’s strategic and tactical missile systems, including the AGNI series of strategic missiles covering a range up to 3000 kms.

Dr Saraswat, who has a doctorate in Combustion Engineering, started his career in DRDO in 1972 at Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad and was responsible for the development of country’s first Liquid Propulsion Engine.

As Project Director ‘PRITHVI’, he steered the design, development, production and induction of first indigenous Surface-to-Surface missile system ‘PRITHVI’, into armed forces.

The successful testing of DHANUSH missile on board a moving ship with high terminal accuracy brought new dimension in the national defence capability. Dr. Saraswat also pioneered the concept of theatre defence system and integration of national Air Defence elements.

He was Director RCI before taking over as CCR and D(MSS). He has headed various committees of national importance.

Dr Saraswat is forerunner in the development of number of critical missile technologies that were under denial due to Missile Technology Control regime, thus making India self-reliant in Missile Technologies.

He has received several awards including Prof Jai Krishna Memorial Award of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Systems Gold Medal by Systems Society of India.

International Academy of Engineering, Russia, elected Dr. Saraswat as Member of Academy and honoured him as an academician. (ANI)

High recurring heart attack, stroke rates prevail globally despite use of many medicines

Washington, September 1 (ANI): An international study has shown that patients with vascular disease have a surprising high rate of events like strokes, heart attacks, hospitalisations and mortality, despite the use of many medicines and other treatments.

The study has also shown that patients in North America, including the U.S., experience an above-average rate of such events.

While the highest rate of these events was observed among patients in Eastern Europe, the lowest was among those in Australia and Japan.

A presentation on the results from the international REACH (Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health) Registry was recently made by a researcher from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2009 in Barcelona on August 31.

The study examined data for 32,247 patients one and three years after they enrolled in the registry.

A European Heart Journal report on the study says that patients who had symptomatic vascular disease had a 14.4 percent rate at one year and 28.4 percent rate at three years of having a heart attack, stroke, rehospitalisation for another type of vascular event or vascular death.

The report further states that patients with vascular disease in more than one location of the body had the highest event rate at 40.5 percent at three years.

When projected over the global population who would mirror the patients in REACH, this represents millions of serious vascular events occurring every few years, many of which could be prevented.

“We were surprised by the high rate of these recurring vascular events,” said lead author Dr. Mark J. Alberts, a professor of Neurology at the Feinberg School and the director of the stroke program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“We know how to prevent vascular disease and the events that it produces. This points to the need for better prevention, better use of medications and a need to develop more potent medications. These are the number one and two causes of death throughout the world,” he added.

Many of the patients in the REACH study were taking the appropriate medications for their vascular disease.

“But that doesn’t mean the medications worked or were being adhered to properly. Perhaps they need more or different medications,” Alberts said.

According to him, this study shows the need for more patients to adopt healthier lifestyles with increased exercise, a healthy diet and smoking cessation.

The author points out that these are inexpensive approaches to reducing and preventing the occurrence of vascular events. (ANI)

Serena went through depression after sister’s murder

New York, Aug 29(ANI): American tennis star Serena Williams has revealed that following her elder sister’s murder, she went through a period of depression and needed counselling to get over the horrific incident.

“It was a dark period in my life. I went through so much depression. I never even talked about it to my mom,” The Sun quoted Serena, as saying.

“No one knew I was in therapy, but I was. I was so close to Yetunde,” she added.

Serena’s sister, Yetunde, was a victim of a shooting on September 14, 2003 in a poor section of Compton in California, which is known for its history of gang violence.

She was shot in the head while riding in an SUV driven by her boyfriend (who police reported was the intended victim) and died at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. (ANI)

Star-cast of ‘Mohandas’ visits Rajghat

New Delhi, Aug. 28 (ANI): The star cast of the upcoming Bollywood film ‘Mohandas’ visited Rajghat, the memorial of Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi here on Friday.

The movie is the directorial debut of cinematographer Mazhar Kamran who has been part of the creative teams of famous Bollywood films such as ‘Satya’ and ‘Jhankar Beats’.

The film is about identity theft, and the simpler escapades of a man who shares the Mahatama’s name ‘Mohandas’, and has to deal with this unusual situation.

Bollywood actor Nakul Vaid plays the protagonist.

“The film is about theft of identity. There are many layers in the film…we talk about the system, about ideologies and many related issues, but the main story is on identity,” said Nakul.

Although the movie is not a biographical saga of Mahatma Gandhi, it only derives inspiration from his thoughts.

“It is not directly about Gandhi, but his ideologies and thinking reflect in the movie in various ways. Gandhi is not physically present in the movie, it is not biographical,” noted Kamran.

The film talks about various contemporary issues, existential and otherwise.

“It is about identity crisis, it is about the corruption, not in our country but generally amongst human beings, it is about identity crisis…it is about how confused we are to be ourselves,” opined actor Sonali Kulkarni, playing the role of a journalist, Meghna, in the film.

‘Mohandas’ also features talented actors like Sushant Singh, Sharbani Mukherjee, Sameer Dharmadhikari and Govind Namdeo

There have been both Hollywood and Bollywood movies made earlier, based either on the life of Mahatama Gandhi or inspired by his philosophy of Ahimsa and non-violence.

The most famous amongst these was Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’ and Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ and ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’. (ANI)

Obama’s health care reform less popular than Bill Clinton’s ’94 proposal

Washington, Aug. 28 (ANI): Americans are more sceptical about President Barack Obama’s health care reform than they were about Bill Clinton’s health care proposals in 1994, a survey conducted by a Republican polling firm has found.

Thirty seven percent of Americans are opposed to the Obama plan compared with 25 percent who favor it, a poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies shows.

In June of 1994 – just a few months before a White House-led health care reform push effectively died on Capitol Hill – 35 percent of Americans said they opposed the Clinton administration’s plan while 23 percent favored it, Politico cited a survey conducted by the same firm, as saying.

But in 1994 as well as now, the polls showed that large numbers of Americans remain undecided about health care reform.

At that time, 42 percent of those surveyed said they had no opinion about Clinton’s plan and this August, 37 percent also had no opinion about Obama’s proposal.

The recent Public Opinion Strategies Poll surveyed 800 registered voters Aug. 11-13 and has a 3.5 percentage point margin of error.

The poll asked about Obama’s plan, but in reality, there are several versions of health care reform currently working their way through Congress.

Bill McInturff, a partner at the firm who poll-tested the “Harry and Louise” advertising campaign that played a key role in the defeat of the Clinton administration’s health care reform efforts in the 1990s, said that opposition to the Obama plan has been fuelled, in part, by the notion that “government has gotten way too big and is going way too far.”

McInturff also predicted that the death of Senator Ted Kennedy would not have much of a practical impact on the health care debate.

“Individual members will make those votes based on their own calculus, for their own situation and not as a memorial to his long and distinguished career,” McInturff said. (ANI)

German paper gives Auschwitz blueprints to Israel PM

Berlin, Aug. 28 (ANI): Germany has handed over 29 yellowing blueprints of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The blueprints give chilling details, with gas chambers, crematoria, delousing facilities and watchtowers drawn to scale. Over a million people, mostly Jews, died in the gas chambers or through forced labor, disease or starvation at Auschwitz, which the Nazis built after occupying Poland.

“There are those who deny that the Holocaust happened. Let them come to Jerusalem and look at these plans, these plans for the factory of death,” Fox News quoted Netanyahu as saying as he accepted the documents as a gift to Israel’s Holocaust memorial, where they will go on display next year.

Netanyahu lingered over the large sheets spread on a table.

Stamped with the Nazi abbreviation for concentration camp “K.L. Auschwitz,” one of the largest featured multi-colored sketches, with barracks and even latrines drawn in detail. Other smaller sheets showed architectural designs of individual buildings, drawn from various angles.

His wife, Sara, whose father was the only member of his family to survive the Nazi genocide that killed six million Jews during World War II, accompanied the Israeli leader. She watched somberly as the documents, which date from 1941 to 1943, were unfolded.

Also present was Yossi Peled, an Israeli Cabinet minister and former general whose father was killed by the Nazis and whose mother survived Auschwitz in one of the barracks detailed in the blueprints.

A family in Belgium who raised him as a Christian hid Peled himself until age 7. He discovered his Jewish roots in 1948 and was taken to Israel two years later.

In Germany for a visit that combined talks on the Mideast conflict with acknowledgments of the painful past that binds the two countries, Netanyahu drew a clear parallel between the events of the Nazi era and the present day. The world did not do enough to stop the murder of Europe’s Jews, he said, and must be careful now to take rapid action against “armed barbarism.”

Axel Springer Verlag, the publisher of the mass circulation Bild newspaper, obtained the Auschwitz blueprints last year from a German man who said he found them when cleaning out an apartment in what was formerly East Berlin.

The publisher and Germany’s federal archive have confirmed the documents’ authenticity. (ANI)

Saraswat appointed new scientific adviser to Defence Minister

New Delhi, Aug 27 (ANI): Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat has been appointed as scientific adviser to Defence Minister AK Antony and will also serve as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

Dr. Saraswat, who will replace the present incumbent M Natarajan on September 1, will also serve as Secretary Department of Defence Research and Development,.

He is presently Chief Controller Research and Development (Missiles and Strategic Systems) since November 2005 in DRDO.

In this capacity, he spearheaded the development of country’s strategic and tactical missile systems, including the AGNI series of strategic missiles covering a range up to 3000 kms.

Dr Saraswat, who has a doctorate in Combustion Engineering, started his career in DRDO in 1972 at Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad and was responsible for the development of country’s first Liquid Propulsion Engine.

As Project Director ‘PRITHVI’, he steered the design, development, production and induction of first indigenous Surface-to-Surface missile system ‘PRITHVI’, into armed forces.

The successful testing of DHANUSH missile on board a moving ship with high terminal accuracy brought new dimension in the national defence capability. Dr. Saraswat also pioneered the concept of theatre defence system and integration of national Air Defence elements.

He was Director RCI before taking over as CCR and D(MSS). He has headed various committees of national importance.

Dr Saraswat is forerunner in the development of number of critical missile technologies that were under denial due to Missile Technology Control regime, thus making India self-reliant in Missile Technologies.

He has received several awards including Prof Jai Krishna Memorial Award of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Systems Gold Medal by Systems Society of India.

International Academy of Engineering, Russia, elected Dr. Saraswat as Member of Academy and honoured him as an academician. (ANI)

World’s last remaining “pristine” forest under threat

Adelaide, August 26 (ANI): A team of international researchers has found that the world’s last remaining “pristine” forest, namely the boreal forest across large stretches of Russia, Canada and other northern countries, is under increasing threat.

The researchers were from the University of Adelaide in Australia, Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and the National University of Singapore.

They have called for the urgent preservation of existing boreal forests in order to secure biodiversity and prevent the loss of this major global carbon sink.

The boreal forest comprises about one-third of the world’s forested area and one-third of the world’s stored carbon, covering a large proportion of Russia, Canada, Alaska and Scandinavia.

To date, it has remained largely intact because of the typically sparse human populations in boreal regions.

That is now changing, according to researchers and co-authors Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw, University of Adelaide, Associate Professor Ian Warkentin, Memorial University, and Professor Navjot Sodhi, National University of Singapore.

“Much world attention has focused on the loss and degradation of tropical forests over the past three decades, but now the boreal forest is poised to become the next Amazon,” said Associate Professor Bradshaw, from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute.

“Historically, fire and insects have driven the natural dynamics of boreal ecosystems,” said Associate Professor Warkentin.

“But with rising demand for resources, human disturbances caused by logging, mining and urban development have increased in these forests during recent years, with extensive forest loss for some regions and others facing heavy fragmentation and exploitation,” he added.

According to the findings, few countries are reporting an overall change in the coverage by boreal forest, but the degree of fragmentation is increasing with only about 40 percent of the total forested area remaining “intact”.

Russian boreal forest is the most degraded and least “intact” and has suffered the greatest decline in the last few decades.

Countries with boreal forest are protecting less than 10 percent of their forests from timber exploitation, except for Sweden where the figure is about 20 percent. (ANI)