Horny ghost on the prowl in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Sep 18 (ANI): A horny orang minyak, which is supposed to be a ghost in Malay culture, is said to be terrorising about 300 families in Sungai Petani, picking homes where there are young women.

According to Kosmo!, Nurshahirah, 17, revealed that she was awakened at 5.40am on September 14 after she felt a warm sensation on her left ear, and when she opened her eyes she saw an apparition with curly hair and thick moustache standing by her bed.

“I was even more shocked when the ghost took off his kain pelikat and started to fondle himself,” the Star Online quoted her as saying.

Nurshahirah, who lives in Taman Keladi, said she felt powerless to ward off the apparition who started to grope her body, and that it was as though a charm had been placed on her.

In another incident, housewife Fatimah, 42, revealed she heard her two daughters crying out when they were woken up at 5am by dark apparitions that molested them.

Her 15-year-old daughter told her that she had been “violated” by a ghost.

“At first I thought she was talking in her sleep but she insisted that she was molested by a ghost before it moved to the kitchen,” Fatimah said.

She said her 14-year-old, too, cried and ran from the living room, saying a dark apparition had molested her.

“My 14-year-old daughter said she managed to kick the ghost who wore a kain pelikat and black singlet when she felt her body being touched,” she revealed.

“She screamed and the ghost ran out of her room,” she added.

Fatimah said she gave chase with a parang but the apparition disappeared.

She also said the apparition could have placed a charm on her family because none of the neighbours heard her daughters’ screams. (ANI)

MJ’s secret sister JohVonnie reveals her ‘snub’ pain

London, September 14 (ANI): Michael Jackson’s half-sister has revealed that the pop legend wasn’t warm to her when she met him during a family get together.

JohVonnie Jackson, whose mum was a lover of MJ’s dad Joe, is close to her father.

She claims that the Jacksons have shunned her for 35 years but was once invited to the ‘Thriller’ hitmaker’s Neverland ranch in 2003 when the clan got together.

Also, JohVonnie alleges that she wasn’t allowed to talk to either the late singer or her half-sister Janet when she attended their concerts.

“I feel rejected by some of my family. It’s upsetting and hurtful,” the Mirror quoted her as saying.

Referring to her meeting with the late singer she said: “It was a big moment for me. But Michael was looking at me and seemed cold. He just said, ‘Hi’ and then he saw my daughter Yasmine and was fascinated with her.”

Jackson made a mistake pronouncing her niece’s name and called her ‘Jasmine,’ which JohVonnie corrected.

She recollected: “He said, ‘OK, Yasmine with a Y’, and that was it. He never acknowledged that I was his sister, there was no hug or kiss, not even a handshake. No physical contact at all.

“I wanted to embrace him. I thought he would want to go some place quiet and sit and talk with me and ask me about my life and get to know me a little better.

“It was very hurtful. He was not interested at all.

“With my daughter he was totally different. She got hugs and kisses, everything I didn’t get. I was a little jealous. But there was a bunch of people there and I never did get a chance to speak to Michael properly. Again, there was this theme that I felt shut out.”

Apparently, JohVonnie spent that night at a nearby hotel and returned to Neverland the next day but she didn’t get to see her iconic half-brother.

She said: “Michael was in the main house. Yasmine and Paris were off playing for hours. Paris is such a sweet girl.”

Though she said she talked to brother Jermaine and sister Rebbie but insists: “None of my other siblings acknowledged me much.” (ANI)

Scientists use bacteria to make radioactive metals inert

Washington, September 9 (ANI): A team of scientists is researching the use of sulfate-reducing bacteria to convert toxic radioactive metal to inert substances, a much more economical solution.

The research is being done by Judy Wall, a biochemistry professor at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

The bacteria Wall is studying are bio-corrosives and can change the solubility of heavy metals.

They can take uranium and convert it to uraninite, a nearly insoluble substance that will sink to the bottom of a lake or stream.

Wall is looking into the bacteria’s water cleansing ability and how long the changed material would remain inert.

Wall’s research could also be beneficial to heavy metal pollution from storage tanks and industrial waste.

The bacteria are already present in more than 7,000 heavy metal contaminated sites, but they live in a specific range of oxygen and temperature, making them difficult to control.

“Our research must be done in the absence of air,” Wall said. “Obviously, none but the most committed – and stubborn – will work with them,” she added.

Even if an oxygen-tolerant strain were developed, there are still multiple factors that would make applying the bacteria challenging, and these microbes can contribute to massive iron corrosion.

“Knowledge of the way bacteria live in the environment, in microbial communities, is still in its infancy,” Wall said. “We just don’t know a lot about the communication systems among microbes,” she added.

Wall and researchers from the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory in California are investigating the bacterium’s basic genetics and hope to determine its growth limits and activity in natural settings, including how to make its interactions with metals sustainable.

They have already identified a few genes that are critical to converting uranium. (ANI)

Jo Wood taking tips from Mick Jagger to win ‘Strictly Come Dancing’

London, Sep 4 (ANI): Jo Wood, who is participating in ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, is getting performance tips from none other than Mick Jagger for winning the show.

The ex-model has been chasing her ex-hubby Ronnie Wood’s flamboyant bandmate for advice on how to shine in the contest.

It is believed that Jo, 53, is ultra-competitive and wants to gain an advantage over her younger rivals, such as The Bill’s Ali Bastian and ex-EastEnder Natalie Cassidy, both 26.

“Jo’s been after some performance tips from Mick Jagger,” the Sun quoted a BBC1 insider as saying.

“She knows that he’s got lots of experience as a showman and she really wants to make sure she dazzles in the competition.

“So who better than the Rolling Stones’ frontman for some advice? The pair are pals and she’s really keen to do her best on Strictly,” added the insider.

Jo, paired with hunk Brendan Cole, has been working very hard and practising the dances for hours on end, which has left her with painful feet.

The mum of four was married to Stones guitarist Ronnie, 62 and has admitted she would never have got the chance to take part in the show if not for the split.

And now she wants to prove that she can stand on her own two feet by winning the show. (ANI)

Intensified search operations for missing Andhra CM resume

Hyderabad/New Delhi, Sep.3 (ANI): Search operations for missing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy resumed at first light on Thursday morning.

State Government sources said that they have narrowed down the search to a 20-square kilometer radius in the Nallamalla Forest Range where they believe the seven-seat Bell helicopter carrying the chief minister may have gone down on Wednesday at around 9.30 a.m.eddy’s chopper went missing while he was on his way from Kurnool to Chittoor.

He is accompanied by his Principal Secretary S Subramanyam and Chief Security Officer A S C Wesley. There were two pilots also on board the twin-engined Bell 430 helicopter that lost contact with Air Traffic Control at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad when it was headed for Chittoor district, about 600 kilometres from Hyderabad.

Indian Space Research Organisation chief G. Madhavan Nair and his team are monitoring a low flying remote sensing plane. Satellite images are being used to try and trace the place. So far, 41 images have been taken but none of them have revealed any information about the chief minister’s whereabouts.

As of now the Indian Government has said that it has not requested the United States for help in the matter, but has confirmed that the unmanned vehicle that is presently deployed in the north eastern part of the country is being kept on standby.

The Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, Andhra Police Greyhound commandos along with local police and district officials has entered the Nallamalla Forests to launch the massive search and rescue operation for Reddy.

About 250 Army personnel with night vision devices have joined the search operations.

“We have deployed two columns and one Ghatak (jungle warfare specialist) platoon in the area for searching the Chief Minister. Our troops are equipped with night vision devices such as goggles and hand held thermal imagers,” Army officials said.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to arrive in Hyderabad shortly to be with Reddy’s anguished family members and to get a hands on assessment of the search operation.

She has already sent Union Law Minister and Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Veerappa Moily and Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chauhan to the city to monitor developments. Chauhan told press persons that the State and Central Governments are sparing no efforts to search for the chief minister.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan has said that while both the state and central governments are extremely concerned and worried about the missing chief minister, all available resources are being deployed for the search.

He said Army and Air Force helicopters have been conducting a search of the region. He also confirmed that two fixed-wing aircraft with synthetic aperture radar capabilities have been pressed into service.

Forces on the ground are also on the lookout for the missing helicopter and its individuals. arayanan said that the lack of communication is a major problem and also ruled out the probability of a Naxal strike.

“I don’t think the Naxals have the capability to bring down a helicopter,” he said.

“There is no question about calling off the search till we discover what happened there. We are hopeful we will find the Chief Minister, his chief secretary and PSO without serious injuries,” he added. (ANI)

Muhammad Ali given huge Irish hero’s welcome

Belfast (Ireland), Sep.2 (ANI): Former World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali was given an Irish hero’s welcome on Tuesday at Turnpike Road from where his great-grandfather Abe Grady set out for the New World almost 150 years ago.

The former three times world heavyweight boxing champion was welcomed like a returning prodigal son when he arrived in Ennis, Co Clare, and was made its first Freeman.

Clearly moved by the fervour of the welcome, he refused to be ushered into a waiting vehicle by his security guards as the crowds chanted: “Ali! Ali! Ali!”

After unveiling a monument near the spot where his ancestral home – a two-room thatched cottage – once stood, he walked with his wife, Yolanda, to meet his fans, the majority of whom were not even born when his brilliant career was dimmed by the onset of Parkinson’s disease, reports The Times.

Today Turnpike Road is lined with primly neat council houses, none prouder than the home of the late Eileen O’Grady, whose daughter, Mary, kissed and hugged her famous distant cousin.

Eileen died nine months ago, preferring to keep her association with one of the greatest sportsmen of all time a secret.

Genealogists traced the roots of Ali, formerly Cassius Clay Jr, to Abe Grady through land registry documents, which record that Grady left Ireland in the 1860s from Cappa Harbour in Kilruch, Co Clare. He settled in Kentucky, where he married a freed African-American slave.

Their son also married an African-American and one of the daughters of that union was Odessa Lee Grady, who married Cassius Clay Sr. (ANI)

Macaulay Culkin rubbishes ‘Blanket’s dad’ claims

Washington, Sept 1 (ANI): Actor Macaulay Culkin has rubbished claims made by a UK tabloid that he was the biological father of Michael Jackson’s youngest son Prince Michael II.

The Sun had published an article wherein the Home Alone Star, a close friend of the late MJ, was named as the father of Prince Michael II a.k.a Blanket.

Blanket, 7, was born of a surrogate mother, whose identity still remains a mystery.

Culkin’s rep Michelle Bega dubbed the claims as being “preposterous”.

Contactmusic quoted Bega as telling TMZ.com: “The enquiries are too preposterous for us to even acknowledge.”

Jackson claimed to have fathered two of his kids Prince Michael and Paris with wife Deborah Rowe, but some speculate the pop icon may have been the biological father of none of his children. (ANI)

Pak announces governing body of Baba Guru Nanak International University

Amritsar. Aug.28 (ANI): In a step to give shape to a proposed Baba Guru Nanak International University (BGNIU) the Government of Pakistan has announced the name of its members of the governing committee for project management unit on Friday.

The first meeting of the governing committee is likely to be held in Islamabad in September this year. The Chairman of the PETPB would head the Committee.

The then Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz assured a delegation of the Sikh Diaspora headed by Dr. Pritpal Singh, convener American Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (AGPC), to set up set up a university on Sikh religion and culture at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak.

Besides the chairman of PETPB, Mian Imran Masood as a executive director, Zafer Saeed Padhiar, MNA, Rai Shah Jehan Bhatti, MPA, President PSGPC, Dr. Pritpal Singh, USA, Manmohan Singh, UK, Azhar Ehsan Advocate, Tahir Azam, Faqir Syed Saif Uddin, Sham Singh Former president PSGPC, Bishan Singh and Mastan Singh are the members of the committee.

In 2007, in a meeting with heads of the various Sikhs organizations, including Avtar Singh Makkar, president of SGPC, PS Sarna the president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managemnet Committee (DGGMC) and Bishan Singh President of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee were asured by PETPB Chairman that the proposed university would have the best architecture, curricula and research center on Sikh and other religion and culture.

It is pertinent to mention that none of the members was taken from India, neither from the SGPC, the premier body of the Sikhs or from DSGMC. However, DSGMC chief Sarna said: “I am happy that the work is on progress to build the University and it makes no difference to me whether they have not gave any representation in the committee.”

He said that whatever duties they give us we will do voluntarily.

Makkar registered his anguish and said that it is unfortunate that PETPB has not given any representation to the SGPC in the governing body.

He said that the SGPC not only represents Sikhs living in India, but also embodies all Sikhs living around the world and that includes Pakistan. He said that without the representation of the SGPC the governing committee could not be called a complete body.

According to sources, the university would be constructed in 2500 acres of land in Nankana Sahib. The foundation stone of the university would be laid in the month of September or November this year.

Talking to ANI, Dr. Pritpal Singh said that the AGPC would bear all the expenses occur on establishing the course related to Gurmat Sangeet facility.

He said that we would invite scholars from all over the world to join the university. It will be planned University that to be modelled on the great universities of Oxford and Cambridge and te University will allow to get Admissions for the Students of all over the world. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)

Terror on Qantas flight as man tries to open door during landing

Melbourne, Aug 26 (ANI): A man allegedly caused terror on a Qantas flight by trying to open the door of the plane, while it was coming in for landing into Sydney.

An eyewitness, who was about two rows away, said that the man was clearly agitated, and had been trying to stand up and move around the plane for about ten minutes during the descent, before reaching for the door handle.

Qantas staff somehow managed to subdue, and to reseat the man to the front section of the plane, and the flight made a normal landing, touching down at 6.05am AEST.

“The man, who was a big guy, stood up again and made a move for the middle door in the economy section,” the Daily Telegraph quoted the fellow passenger on the QF2 flight from London via Bangkok as saying.

“He grabbed the handle but Qantas staff were able to restrain him.

“The incident wasn’t in any way threatening, but some children did become scared and upset, and started yelling,” he said.

Passengers were asked to remain in their seats for another 20 minutes before being allowed to begin to disembark.

Police are now questioning the man, though a Qantas spokeswoman was unable to confirm whether the crew had to restrain the man on the QF2 flight from London via Bangkok.

“We don’t have any details of anybody trying to open a door,” she said.

“There was a disruptive passenger, but none of our staff has said that he was trying to open a door.

“The passenger and the crew are currently in discussions with the police,” she added. (ANI)

Maharashtra Govt. challenges revocation of MCOCA provisions in Malegaon blasts case

Mumbai, Aug 24 (ANI): The Maharashtra Government has filed an appeal in the Bombay High Court challenging the revocation of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions in the September 2008 Malegaon blasts case.

The court will hear the matter on September 8. It asked the state to serve a copy of the appeal to the 11 accused.

On August 2, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said that his government would challenge the verdict given by the Special Court to drop the charges under MCOCA framed against the 11 accused of the Malegaon blast, in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, a Special Court in Mumbai had dropped provisions of the MCOCA invoked against Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt Col Prasad S P Purohit and other accused of September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast.

The Court in its verdict observed that none of these accused are part of an organised crime group.

The court also ordered the trial will be heard in a regular Nashik court and that the accused can now become eligible for regular bail.

The Malegaon blast investigations were the first instance of an official probe, which charged a Hindu terrorist group with involvement in serial blasts. (ANI)

5,000-year-old figurine represents Scotland’s earliest human face

Edinburgh, August 21 (ANI): Archaeologists have uncovered a 5,000-year-old figurine on the Orkney island of Westray in Scotland, which is the country’s earliest representation of a human face and body.

According to a report in The Scotsman, the face and its lozenge-shaped body – measuring just 3.5cm by 3cm – were carved on the Orkney island of Westray between 4,500 and 5,000 years ago.

The enigmatic figurine had lain undisturbed in the earth at the Links of Noltland – one of Orkney’s richest archaeological sites.

That was when archaeologists, carefully brushing away the mud from the fragment of sandstone, found Scotland’s earliest human face staring back at them.

As the tiny object was displayed in public for the first time, Scotland’s culture minister Mike Russell was the first to hail the importance of the remarkable discovery.

“This is a find of tremendous importance. Representations of people from this period are incredibly unusual in Britain,” he said.

“What we are seeing here is the earliest known human face in Scotland. It once again emphasizes the tremendous importance of Orkney’s archaeology,” he added.

The figurine was unearthed by Jakob Kainz, one of a team of archaeologists working at Historic Scotland’s excavations on an ancient farmhouse at the Links of Noltland site – a prehistoric settlement in the dune system flanking Grobust Bay, on the north-west coast of Westray.

Historic Scotland senior archaeologist Richard Strachan said it was a find of “astonishing rarity” – the only known Neolithic carving of a human form to have been discovered in Scotland.

“It was one of those ‘eureka’ moments. None of the archaeology team have seen anything like it before. It’s incredibly exciting,” he said.

Careful examination revealed a face with heavy brows, two dots for eyes and an oblong for a nose.

A pair of circles on the chest are being interpreted as representing breasts, and arms have been etched at either side. A pattern of crossed markings could suggest the fabric of clothing.

According to Strachan, “There is a strong possibility that it has been a votive offering to mark the abandonment of the site. It may have been for ceremonial purposes.” (ANI)

Why we sleep – ‘science-wise’

London, Aug 21 (ANI): From animals to humans, everybody requires a good night sleep. However, the function of sleep still remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of science, say researchers.

While many theories suggest that sleep helps in brain “maintenance” – including memory consolidation and pruning- reverse damage from oxidative stress suffered while awake and promote longevity, none of them are well established.

Now, researchers from University of California, Los Angeles have come up with a new theory that sleep’s primary function is to increase animals’ efficiency and minimize their risk by regulating the duration and timing of their behaviour.

“Sleep has normally been viewed as something negative for survival because sleeping animals may be vulnerable to predation and they can’t perform the behaviors that ensure survival,” Nature quoted Jerome Siegel, professor of psychiatry and director of the Centre for Sleep Research at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour at UCLA as saying,iegel said.

“These behaviours include eating, procreating, caring for family members, monitoring the environment for danger and scouting for prey.

“So it’s been thought that sleep must serve some as-yet unidentified physiological or neural function that can’t be accomplished when animals are awake,” he added.

In the study conducted using platypus, walrus, and echidna – a small, burrowing, egg-laying mammal covered in spines, the researchers showed that sleep itself is highly adaptive, much like the inactive states seen in a wide range of species, starting with plants and simple microorganisms; these species have dormant states – as opposed to sleep – even though in many cases they do not have nervous systems.

That challenges the idea that sleep is for the brain, said Siegel.

“We see sleep as lying on a continuum that ranges from these dormant states like torpor and hibernation, on to periods of continuous activity without any sleep, such as during migration, where birds can fly for days on end without stopping,” he said.

In humans, the most notable thing about sleep is that it reduces body and brain metabolism while still allowing high level of responsiveness to the environment, such as parent arousing at a baby’s whimper but sleeping through a thunderstorm.

“This Darwinian perspective can explain age-related changes in human sleep patterns as well,” said Siegel.

“We sleep more deeply when we are young, because we have a high metabolic rate that is greatly reduced during sleep, but also because there are people to protect us.

“Our sleep patterns change when we are older, though, because that metabolic rate reduces and we are now the ones doing the alerting and protecting from dangers,” the expert added.

The study appears in journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience. (ANI)

Waste by-product of malaria parasite’s reproductive process linked to devastating fever

Washington, August 21 (ANI): Studying hemozoin – a crystal-like by-product released during reproduction among parasites from the Plasmodium family – may help understand why malaria leads to devastating inflammation and fever, according to a Canadian study.

Lead researcher Dr. Martin Olivier, of McGill University in Montreal, points out that, inside the human body, the malaria parasite infects red blood cells where it survives and reproduces by feeding on the cells’ contents.

Eventually, says the researcher, the cells burst and release the parasites and hemozoin.

“Our results describe the mechanism by which the hemozoin activates the immune system, resulting in the production of inflammation mediators and in the high fever that we witness in malaria patients,” said study’s first-author Dr. Marina Tiemi Shio, of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC).

According to the researchers, hemozoin is first ingested by “cleaning” cells called macrophages, which leads to a chain reaction ending in the activation of the inflammasome: an important structure inside immune cells which lead to inflammation.

They say that the activation of the inflammasome leads to the production of the body’s fever mediator, interleukin beta (IL-beta).

“Our work is a milestone in that it is the first study that reveals the enzymes that act as intermediary between the hemozoin and inflammasome. Now our picture of the process that goes from infection to fever is more or less complete,” said Dr. Olivier.

“On the other hand, we also proved that malaria is too complex to be narrowed down to one single mechanism. In the absence of either IL-beta or a functional inflammsaome, the development of the disease is delayed but not completely stopped. Although the discovery of this relationship is important, there are other mechanisms at work,” he added.

Even though scientists have been familiar with the mechanisms that go from the activation of the inflammasome to the onset of the malaria symptoms, none of the previous studies has ever shown the beginning of the process.

“These results prove the primary role hemozoin plays in the development of malaria, and designates it as a favoured choice for future innovative treatments,” said Dr. Olivier.

The researchers believe it will be possible to familiarize the immune system to small quantities of hemozoin, and diminish the inflammatory response in the event of infection, according to a principle similar to that of vaccines.

The results of the study have been published in the journal PLoS Pathogens. (ANI)

Iran cabinet has 11 new members

Tehran (Iran), Aug.20 (ANI): Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced a new cabinet that includes eleven new faces, including three women. None of the 11 new faces have had any ministerial experience.

The line-up was submitted to parliament late on Wednesday, two weeks after Ahmadinejad was sworn in on August 5, the ISNA news agency reported.

Lawmakers will begin examining the names from August 23 before holding a confidence vote on August 30.

Iranian media did not react with any enthusiasm to the news.

The nomination of three women in the 21-member government is a first in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic, although in 1997 then reformist president Mohammad Khatami appointed a woman to the post of vice president.

According to ISNA, Ahmadinejad named Sousan Keshavarz, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou as his ministers respectively of education, health, and welfare and social security.

The ministers of foreign affairs, economy, industries, cooperatives and transport have all retained their portfolios.

Mostafa Mohammad Najjar meanwhile has been moved from defence to the interior, Masoud Mir Kazemi from commerce to oil, and Mohammad Aliabadi from vice president and the head of physical education organisation to the energy ministry. (ANI)

Pocket watch found off Welsh coast returned- after 130 years!

London, Aug 19 (ANI): A silver pocket watch, which was lost 130 years ago, has finally being returned to the family of its owner.

The watch belonging to one Captain Richard Prichard lay at the bottom of the ocean for over a century.

Rich Hughes, a diver, spotted the watch in the sand as he explored a shipwreck sunk off the Welsh coast.

After bringing it to the surface, he saw the words “Richard Prichard 1866 Abersoch North Wales” engraved on the casing and set out in search of the family.

“I was amazed that the watch was in such good condition after laying at the bottom of the sea for generations,” the Telegraph quoted Hughes, 38, as saying.

“As soon as I saw the name it started me thinking about Richard Prichard.

“I knew he would be the master and commander of the ship – none of the crew would be able to afford a valuable timepiece,” he added.

Hughes discovered Prichard was the captain of the Barbara, a square-rigged barque which came to grief during a storm off the Pembrokeshire coast in 1881. He had mysteriously died earlier during the voyage to pick up a cargo of rice from Burma.

He was buried at sea and a new master, known only as Captain Jones, became the watch’s custodian – probably intending to give it to the Prichard family after arriving in Liverpool.

However, the vessel was hit by a storm and the Barbara sank off the village of Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire, in November 1881.

Hughes, of Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, used the internet to scan old manuals and shipping records and also took help of amateur historian David Roberts to trace Capt Prichard’s family.

The watch will be handed to retired dentist Owen Cowell, of Pwllheli, North Wales later this month.

Cowell’s grandmother was Captain Prichard’s cousin, making him the closest surviving family member.

“I am delighted the watch has come home after all these years,” said Cowell.

“It has come as a complete surprise to me that my ancestors had such a colourful, seafaring past,” he added. (ANI)

Another British soldier killed in Afghanistan, toll 196

London, Aug. 9 (ANI): A British soldier, from the 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, was killed by an explosion in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, taking the death toll in Afghanistan since 2001 to 196.

According to reports, the soldier was on foot patrol at the time, and was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

“Each and every loss that we sustain in Helmand sends reverberations throughout the brigade. Today, we mourn the loss of a soldier who died working to make Afghanistan a better place. He was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, displaying bravery that was second to none,” The Telegraph quoted Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wenham, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, as saying.

“Our thoughts are with his family and we offer them our deepest and heartfelt condolences at this tragic time,” he added.

Already five British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this month, it follows the record 22 fatalities in July.

The death comes two days after three Paras, Corporal Kevin Mulligan, Lance Corporal Dale Hopkins and Private Kyle Adams, were killed in southern Afghanistan.

The three were working with special forces at the time, and were carrying out a routine security patrol with Afghan forces.

A fourth member of the patrol injured in Thursday’s blast remained in a critical condition. (ANI)

Archaeologists find evidence of Britain’s earliest Iron Age town

London, July 16 (ANI): Archaeologists from Berkshire, UK, have discovered evidence of an Iron Age town underneath the remains of a Roman settlement in north Hampshire, which they say could be Britain’s earliest Iron Age towns with a planned layout.

According to a report by BBC News, the discovery was made by the University of Reading’s Archaeology Department, which has been excavating at the Silchester Roman site, Calleva Atrebatum, since 1997.

A street-grid was found to have been in place before the Romans came in AD 43. Archaeologists have also discovered evidence of widespread burning at the site.

They believe this, along with other finds, suggests that the site could have been destroyed at the hands of queen Boudicca, who in AD 60/61 led a major uprising against the occupying Roman forces.

“After 12 summers of excavation, we have reached down to the 1st Century AD and are beginning to see the first signs of what we believe to be the Iron Age and earliest Roman town,” said Professor Michael Fulford, director of the Silchester Town Life Project.

“The discovery of the underlying Iron Age settlement is extremely exciting. While there are traces of settlement beneath Roman Verulamium (today’s St Albans) and Canterbury and close to the site of Roman Colchester, none of these resembles the evidence that we have here at Calleva of a planned town,” he said.

“The completely new street grid implemented later by the Romans could have been a thumbs down on the British arrangement,” he added.

According to Professor Fulford, “We now have evidence that the town was burnt down sometime after AD 50 and before AD 80.”

“The possibility that this was at the hands of Boudicca when leading the largest British uprising during the Roman occupation is hugely significant. It was not thought the revolt passed this way,” he said. (ANI)

Shiv Sena wants houses in Mumbai for only for locals

Mumbai, July 14 (ANI): In turf battle ahead of state polls in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena has promised houses in Mumbai to state’s bona-fide residents.

Having lost ground to its faction, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, over hardline political posturing, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray led a bunch of party activists and supporters to the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) head office demanding that non-Maharashtrians should be barred in that allotment of shelters.

“In another two to three months, Shiv Sena is confident of coming to power and then our government will provide 500 square feet area houses to Marathi ‘manoos’ (bona-fide residents of Maharashtra) to ensure that they need not go out of Mumbai to reside.

Marathi manoos is entitled to shelter and none else. This is our stand,” said Thackeray.

“In Mumbai, the houses are built by the MMRDA for the poor. These houses are also grabbed by builders. Immigrants from Bihar and Bangladesh are begging for accommodation whereas what we are demanding is proper accommodation from government which is our right,” he added.

The MMRDA last month announced that it would provide 43,000 homes at a rent starting as low as Rupees 800 per month.

The project is aimed at reducing the number of slums in Mumbai.

Shiv Sena members feel that the housing scheme doesn’t give preference to Maharashtrians and would encourage outsiders to settle in Mumbai.

Maharashtra will hold elections to state assembly by October and the migrants’ issue could swing votes. (ANI)

Libyan extremist group severs ties with Al-Qaeda over ‘indiscriminate violence’

London, July 10 (ANI): What may be seen as a severe blow to Al-Qaeda, one of its ally, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) has decided to severe its ties with Osama bin Laden saying that the “indiscriminate bombings” and the “targeting of civilians” was not in accordance to its objectives.

This is the first such instance when an ally of Al-Qaeda has parted ways with it due to its policy of ‘indiscriminate violence.’

The LIFG, which once aimed to topple Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, criticised Al-Qaeda for carrying out attacks on innocent civilians and said that such violent activities did not achieve the “aims of the group in removing oppression.”

Officials believe that the LIFG’s back out is a great blow to Al-Qaeda which is facing a massive surge by the US led allied forces in Afghanistan at the moment.

“LIFG figures had ‘graduated to become major players’ in al-Qaeda and the group’s withdrawal amounted to a ‘moral blow’ to the network,” The Telegraph quoted an official, as saying.

A statement issued by the LIFG claimed that the group had no link with Al-Qaeda in the past.

“The decision to join bin Laden’s network had been invalid, and the LIFG had no link to the Al-Qaeda organisation in the past and has none now and we demand that those parties remove the name of the Fighting Group from those lists,” the statement said.

During the 1990′s the LIFG’s leaders were forced out of Libya. They then escaped to Afghanistan and started coming closer to different extremists groups based there such as Al-Qaeda. (ANI)

Scientists unveil prostate cancer ‘homing device’ for drug delivery

Washington, July 7 (ANI): Purdue University researchers have come up with a new prostate cancer “homing device” that can improve detection, and allow for the first targeted treatment of the disease.

The researchers have revealed that they have synthesized a molecule that finds and penetrates prostate cancer cells, and created imaging agents and therapeutic drugs that can link to the molecule and be carried with it as cargo.

Philip Low, the Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry who led the team, said that a targeted treatment could be much more effective in treating cancer and would greatly reduce the harmful side effects associated with current treatments.

“Currently none of the drugs available to treat prostate cancer are targeted, which means they go everywhere in the body as opposed to only the tumour, and so are quite toxic for the patient,” said Low, who is a member of the Purdue Cancer Center.

“By being able to target only the cancer cells, we could eliminate toxic side effects of treatments. In addition, the ability to target only the cancer cells can greatly improve imaging of the cancer to diagnose the disease, determine if it has spread or is responding to treatment,” Low added.

The Purdue team say that the molecule they have created attaches to prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein that is found on the membrane of more than 90 percent of all prostate cancers.

Low points out that it is also found on the blood vessels of most solid tumours, and may provide a way to cut off the tumour blood supply.

“A lot of new drugs are being designed to destroy the vasculature of solid tumours, and, if they could be linked to this new targeting molecule, we could have a two-pronged attack for prostate cancer. We could not only kill the prostate cancer cells directly, we could also destroy the vasculature that feeds the tumours,” he said.

The researcher says that there also is potential for the targeting molecule to be used to attack the vasculature of solid tumours of other types of cancers.

Animal studies carried out by the researchers have shown an ability to eliminate human prostate cancer cells in mice, without any collateral toxicity in normal tissue.

“The molecule acts like a homing device for prostate cancer. PSMA, which is found only on prostate cancer cells and tumor blood vessels, acts as the homing signal that the molecule targets. The molecule and its cargo go only to cancerous tissue, leaving healthy tissue unharmed,” says Sumith Kularatne, a graduate student in Purdue’s chemistry department and first author of both papers who compared the targeting molecule to a homing device.

He has revealed that the molecule is designed with a specific shape that fits with the protein like a key to a lock. The molecule and its cargo are then carried inside the cell with the protein as it goes through its normal cycle.

A radioimaging application used for body scans is expected to enter clinical trials this fall, and an optical imaging application used to measure prostate cancer cells in blood samples is already in clinical trials.

The findings of the researchers have been described in two research articles published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics. (ANI)