Science
News This Week:
1) New
frog species discovered in New York City:
Atlantic
Coast leopard frog’s habitat covers hundreds of miles. A new frog species,
discovered in New York City six years ago, has been found in many spots along
the East Coast, from Connecticut to North Carolina.
The
Atlantic Coast leopard frog (Rana kauffeldi) was first identified on Staten
Island when ecologists realized that its call was distinct from that of a
lookalike, the southern leopard frog (Rana sphenocephala). The Atlantic Coast
species croaks in a single burst of sound, while the southern leopard frog
calls with multiple pulses.
Researchers
have now collected recordings of calls and tissue samples from leopard frogs
along the East Coast to define the range of the new species. They found the
Atlantic Coast leopard frog in coastal freshwater wetlands and low-lying river
floodplains along a wide swath of the coast. The new frog’s range is described
October 29 in PLOS ONE.
“We can
still find new species not only in the rainforest or in remote areas of the
world, but in places that are very familiar,” says coauthor Jeremy Feinberg, an
ecologist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. “Your backyard might
just have a surprise.”
2) Mini
stomachs grown in lab:
Clumps of
gastric cells could help researchers study disease. Itty-bitty seeds of human
stomachs can now bud in plastic dishes.
By
bathing stem cells in a brew of growth-boosting chemicals, scientists have
kick-started the construction of crude organs about as big as the head of a
pin. These primitive balls of gastric tissue — the first to be cooked up in the
lab — resemble the stomachs of developing fetuses. The lab-grown bellies
represent the latest in a line of do-it-yourself organlike cell clumps,
including livers, brains and guts .
Three
years after figuring out how to transform stem cells into human intestinal
tissue, and more recently, how to make that tissue grow in mice developmental
biologist James Wells of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and colleagues have monkeyed with their
method to make 3-D stomachlike organs.
Like
human stomachs, the lab-grown globs contain both mucus-making and
hormone-pumping cells. The tissue also mimics a stomach’s response to infection
with Helicobacter pylori. The ulcer-causing bacteria cue the globs to switch on
the same molecular signals that real stomach cells use, Wells and his team
report October 29 in Nature.
The mini
stomachs hand researchers a new tool for studying gastric human disease,
including cancer, the researchers suggest.
3) First
detailed picture of cancer-related cell enzyme in action on chromosome unit:
A
Landmark study to be published in the October 30, 2014 print edition of the
journal Nature provides new insight into the function of an enzyme related to
the BRCA1 breast cancer protein. The study by a team at Penn State University
is the first to produce a detailed working image of an enzyme in the Polycomb
Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) -- a group that regulates cell development and is
associated with many types of cancer.
Enzymes
like PRC1 turn on or turn off the activity of genes in a cell by manipulating
individual chromosome units called nucleosomes. "The nucleosome is a key
target of the enzymes that conduct genetic processes critical for life,"
said Song Tan, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State
University and the leader of the study's research team.
The Penn
State scientists obtained the first crystal structure of a gene regulation
enzyme while it is working on a nucleosome. The image reveals previously
unknown information about how the enzyme attaches to its nucleosome target.
Before this study, scientists had been unable to picture exactly how
cancer-related enzymes in the PRC1 group interacted with a nucleosome to
control gene activity. The study is also the first to determine the crystal
structure of a multisubunit protein complex bound to a nucleosome, which itself
is a complex assembly of DNA and 4 histone proteins.
The
research is the culmination of over 12 years of research by the Tan laboratory
to capture an image of this important class of enzymes bound to the nucleosome.
His lab earlier had determined the first structure of another nucleosome-bound
protein, RCC1. "This is the second important structure from the Tan lab to
date of a nucleosome in complex with a protein known to interact with and
modify chromatin behavior, which in turn can influence human gene
expression," said Peter Preusch, Ph.D., of the National Institutes of
Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which partially funded
the research. "Along with Dr. Tan's previous work detailing a nucleosome
bound to the key regulatory protein, RCC1, this new structure adds to our
knowledge of how proteins can regulate the structure and function of our
genetic material."
The
research project was proposed and executed by team member Robert K. McGinty, a
Damon Runyon postdoctoral fellow at Penn State. McGinty and Ryan C. Henrici, an
undergraduate in the Penn State Schreyer Honors College, grew crystals of the
PRC1 enzyme bound to the nucleosome. The team then solved the three-dimensional
structure of this large molecular assembly by X-ray crystallography. "We
are excited about this crystal structure because it provides new paradigms for
understanding how chromatin enzymes function," McGinty said.The study
performed in the Penn State Center for Eukaryotic Gene Regulation provides
unexpected insight into the workings of the BRCA1 breast-cancer-associated
tumor-suppressor protein. Like PRC1, BRCA1 is a chromatin enzyme that shares a
similar activity on the nucleosome. Tan said, "Our study suggests that
BRCA1 and PRC1 employ a similar mechanism to anchor to the nucleosome."
Tan and his team now are working to visualize how BRCA1 and other
disease-related chromatin enzymes interact with the nucleosome.
4)
Harmless bacterium edges out intestinal germ:
Clostridium
scindens inhibits closely related microbe C. difficile. Gut infections from the
bacterium Clostridium difficile can be fought with a closely related but
harmless microbe known as C. scindens. The friendly bacterium combats infection
in mice by converting molecules produced in the liver into forms that inhibit
C. difficile growth, researchers report October 22 in Nature.
C.
scindens also appears to protect people from infection, the researchers found
in a preliminary study in humans.
The new
findings could begin a path to the next generation of therapies using gut
bacteria, says Alexander Khoruts, a gastroenterologist at the University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis.People who become infected with C. difficile typically
have taken antibiotics, which wipe out the beneficial microbes in the gut,
giving C. difficile a chance to take root. The infection can lead to cramps,
diarrhea and even death. An estimated 500,000 to 1 million people get C.
difficile infections each year in the United States. People with C. difficile
receive more antibiotics to treat the infection or a fecal transplant to
restore healthy microbes to the gut.
Several
research groups have been trying to identify gut bacteria that are resilient in
the face of C. difficile so that physicians can give patients those bacteria as
a treatment, says Eric Pamer, an immunologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center. Single strains of bacteria such as C. scindens would offer
significant advantages over fecal transplants: With a transplant, doctors
screen the donated feces for pathogens that might sicken the recipient. But,
Pamer says, “there are many things, viruses that have yet to be identified,
that could be in a crude fecal product that might cause trouble.” Pamer and his team gave mice antibiotics to
deplete beneficial microbes but not wipe them out completely. The researchers
then fed the mice C. difficile spores and identified microbes that appeared in
mice with lower amounts of C. difficile in their guts. C. scindens was the
clear victor. It is harmless and present in most people, but in very low
numbers.
The
researchers then grew C. scindens and fed the bacteria to mice before exposing
them to C. difficile. Compared with mice that received no microbes, the C.
scindens-fed mice ended up with lower amounts of C. difficile in their guts,
lost less weight and were less likely to die.The researchers also examined the
microbial populations of 24 patients undergoing stem cell transplants. Those
patients had lowered microbial diversity after receiving combinations of
antibiotics, radiation and chemotherapy. The patients who didn’t develop C.
difficile after the transplant were more likely to have C. scindens in their
guts.
“This is
a pretty big leap forward in figuring out why people are resistant or sensitive
to infection,” says Joseph Sorg, a microbiologist at Texas A&M University
in College Station.The researchers also investigated how C. scindens combats C.
difficile.C. difficile begins growing after it is exposed to certain molecules
secreted in bile after a meal. However, another form of the molecule inhibits
C. difficile growth. C. scindens transforms the molecule from one form to the
other, boosting resistance to C. difficile.
Eventually, the researchers plan to see if C. scindens combats C.
difficile in human studies. The bacteria could bolster patients’ resistance to
C. difficile before the infection takes hold.
5) Scripps
Research Institute scientists make enzyme that could help explain origins of
life:
Mimicking
natural evolution in a test tube, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute
(TSRI) have devised an enzyme with a unique property that might have been
crucial to the origin of life on Earth. Aside from illuminating one possible
path for life's beginnings, the achievement is likely to yield a powerful tool
for evolving new and useful molecules.
"When
I start to tell people about this, they sometimes wonder if we're merely
suggesting the possibility of such an enzyme -- but no, we actually made
it," said Gerald F. Joyce, professor in TSRI's Departments of Chemistry
and Cell and Molecular Biology and director of the Genomics Institute of the
Novartis Research Foundation.Joyce was the senior author of the new report,
which was published online ahead of print by the journal Nature on October 29,
2014.
The
Challenge of Making Copies
The new
enzyme is called a ribozyme because it is made from ribonucleic acid (RNA).
Modern DNA-based life forms appear to have evolved from a simpler "RNA
world," and many scientists suspect that RNA molecules with enzymatic
properties were Earth's first self-replicators.
The new
ribozyme works essentially in that way. It helps knit together a
"copy" strand of RNA, using an original RNA strand as a reference or
"template." However, it doesn't make a copy of a molecule completely
identical to itself. Instead it makes a copy of a mirror image of itself --
like the left hand to its right -- and, in turn, that "left-hand"
ribozyme can help make copies of the original.
No one
has ever made such "cross-chiral" enzymes before. The emergence of
such enzymes in a primordial RNA world -- which the new study shows was
plausible -- could have overcome a key obstacle to the origin of life.Biology
on Earth evolved in such a way that in each class of molecules, one chirality,
or handedness, came to predominate. Virtually all RNA, for example, are
right-handed and called D-RNA. That structural sameness makes interactions
within that class more efficient -- just as a handshake is more efficient when
it joins two right or two left hands, rather than a left and a
right."Scientists generally are taught to think that there has to be a
common chirality among interacting molecules for biology to work," said
Joyce.
It seems
likely, however, that simple RNA molecules on the primordial Earth would have
consisted of mixes of both right- and left-handed forms. Despite this
reasoning, 30 years ago Joyce, then a graduate student, published a paper in
Nature showing that self-replicators would have had a tough time evolving in
such a mix. Any strand of RNA that gathered stray nucleotides onto itself would
eventually have incorporated an RNA nucleotide of the opposite handedness --
which would have blocked further assembly of that copy."Since then we've
all been wondering how RNA replication could have started on the primitive
Earth," Joyce said.
A Looser
Grip
One
theory has been that a right-handed RNA enzyme emerged with the capacity to
make copies of other right-handed RNA molecules, including itself, while
ignoring left-handed L-RNA. Joyce and others have created such ribozymes in the
laboratory and have found that RNA's propensity to form sticky base pairs with
other RNA -- which is a useful property for its various cellular functions --
hampers its ability to work as a copier of other RNA molecules. In essence,
these RNA-copying ribozymes work well with some RNA sequences but not all.
A
general-purpose RNA replication enzyme would have less of a grip on the RNA it
handles. "That's how later-evolved protein enzymes that replicate RNA and
DNA work -- they're not nucleic acids so they can't form base-pairs with the
nucleic acids they're copying," said Joyce.But how could an RNA enzyme
have worked like that, in a primordial world limited to RNA?Perhaps only if it
worked on opposite-handed RNA, with which it is chemically prohibited from
forming consecutive base pairs. "We started thinking: it feels a little
weird but you can shake the wrong hand of somebody else," Joyce said.
Test Tube
Evolution
No one
had ever made or even tried to make a ribozyme that worked cross-chirally, on
opposite-handed RNA. But in the new study, Joyce laboratory postdoctoral fellow
Jonathan T. Sczepanski used a technique called "test-tube evolution"
to come up with one.He started with a soup of about a quadrillion (1015) short
RNA molecules. Their sequences were essentially random, and all were of
right-handed chirality. "We set it up so that the molecules that could
catalyze a joining reaction with left-handed RNA could be pulled out of
solution and then amplified," Sczepanski said.
After
just 10 of these selection-and-amplification rounds, the researchers had a
strong candidate ribozyme. They then expanded the size of its core region, put
it through six more selection rounds and trimmed the extraneous nucleotides.
The result: an 83-nucleotide ribozyme that was only moderately
sequence-specific and could reliably knit a test segment of left-handed RNA to
a template -- about a million times faster than would have happened without
enzyme assistance.
The team
also showed that the new ribozyme could work without hindrance even when
same-handed RNA nucleotides were present. In a last test, the new ribozyme successfully
catalyzed the assembly of 11 segments of RNA to make a complete copy of its
left-handed counterpart ribozyme, which in turn was able to join segments of
right-handed RNA.
The
researchers are now working to put the right-handed ribozyme (and by implication
its left-handed partner) through more selection rounds, so that it can mediate
the full replication of RNA, with essentially no sequence-dependence. That
would make it a true general-purpose RNA-replication enzyme, capable in
principle of turning a primordial nucleotide soup into a vast
biosphere."Ultimately what one wants is to turn it loose -- in the lab, of
course, not in the wild -- to let it start replicating and evolving and seeing
what results," Joyce said.
Movies
Release This Week:
A
thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Jake
Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who
discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of
freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou
muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling - where each
police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into
dollars and cents. Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport
that is local TV news, Lou blurs the line between observer and participant to
become the star of his own story.
“Horns,”
a supernatural thriller driven by fantasy, mystery and romance, follows Ig
Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe), the number one suspect for the violent rape and
murder of his girlfriend, Merrin (Juno Temple). Hungover from a night of hard
drinking, Ig awakens one morning to find horns starting to grow from his own
head and soon realizes their power drives people to confess their sins and give
in to their most selfish and unspeakable impulses – an effective tool in his
quest to discover the true circumstances of his late girlfriend’s tragedy and
for exacting revenge on her killer.
Starring
Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth & Mark Strong, Before I Go To Sleep is a
psychological thriller based on the worldwide best-selling novel about a woman
who wakes up every day remembering nothing – the result of a traumatic accident
in her past – until one day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to
question everyone around her...
When
Ricky Miller, a single, quiet 40-year old aspiring writer and manager of
Debbie's (think Denny's) and probably the last person you'd notice in a crowd
is 'hit by lightning' and meets the love of his life, the beautiful Danita on
E-Happily.com, he is catapulted into a relationship online but it's a lot more
than what he bargained for - this includes being asked to kill! Hounded by his
best friend Seth who thinks no "10" would even go out with a guy like
Ricky unless she had ulterior motives (or needed glasses), Ricky starts to get
skeptical himself. Turns out, Danita confesses she's actually married to a
handsome affable crime novelist and former Rabbi, Ben Jacobs. Is Danita telling
Ricky the truth when she says wants to leave her husband but fears for her life
if she does? Will Ricky go through with the plan to kill him so he and Danita
can live happily ever after?
The film
revolves around 6 'losers'; Charlie (Shah Rukh Khan), Mohini (Deepika
Padukone), Nandu (Abhishek Bachchan), Tammy (Boman Irani), Jag (Sonu Sood),
Rohan (Vivaan Shah) and their hunt for revenge and respect.
Charlie
is a street fighter who longs for revenge for his father who was framed as a
thief by Charan Grover (Jackie Shroff). He makes a mastermind plan to steal the
Shalimar Diamonds from Grover and to frame him just like he had done to his
father, Manohar Sharma (Anupam Kher). However, in order to do this he needs to
make a team. First he finds his childhood friend Jag, a former bomb disposal
squad Captain. Then he finds a safe cracker, Tammy, his father's best friend
and a hacker, Rohan, Jag's nephew. When they realise that they need to have the
finger prints of Charan's son, Vikki (Abhishek Bachchan), Charlie finds Nandu,
a look alike of Vikki. They start planning how to steal the diamonds.Now they
only have one problem, they have to take part in World Dance Championship. As
hard as they try, they can't dance. So they find a bar dancer, Mohini (Deepika
Padukone) to teach them how to dance with out telling her their plan. After a
lot of rehearsals and cheating, Team Diamonds become Team India in WDC. During
this time period, Charlie and Mohini start falling in love with each other.
When they
arrive at Dubai, everyone dislikes them including Grover. However they rehearse
and become semi finalists. Their plan was to steal the diamonds after dancing
in the semi final, but they have to change their plan as the diamonds are
reaching on New Year's Eve instead of Christmas. Unexpectedly, they are chosen
as finalists as Charlie had saved a young boy's life from the rivals team and
left his own performance.
Things
take a turn when Mohini over hears Charlie going through the plan. Just as she
is about to leave, Charlie stops her and explains why they had to do this. He
also reveals that his father isn't in jail but committed suicide. This leaves
Mohini emotional and she decides to help the other five. On the night of the
finals, everything goes as planned and they manage to steal the diamonds after
a couple of complications. However, Mohini realises that everyone is waiting
for them to perform and decides to stay as their country would be let down.
Rohan decides to help Mohini. Suddenly, Tammy realises that Mohini is right and
he, Nandu and Jag decide to go to perform leaving Charlie alone.During the
performance, Charlie makes an unexpected entry and the team perform extremely
well. When Grover realises that the diamonds are missing he instantly blames
Team India but as the whole team are dancing, he is arrested just like planned.
Team India are declared winners of World Dance Championship - 2014. Just as the
police are taking Grover away, Charlie reveals who he actually is to Charan and
manages to find justice for his father. The film ends with Mohini opening her
dance school and Charlie proposing to her with a ring made of a Shalimar
diamond and the team becoming 'winners' from 'losers'.
Political
News This Week:
1) Black
money case: List of 627 foreign account holders given to SC:
The
Centre on Wednesday placed a list of names of 627 Indian account holders in
HSBC bank, Geneva in the black money case before the Supreme Court which asked
a Special Investigation Team to go through the list and take appropriate action
in accordance with law.A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu did not open
the sealed envelope containing the names placed by the Centre and said that it
would be opened only by chairman and the vice chairman of the Supreme
Court-appointed SIT. It asked the SIT to submit status report of its probe by
November end.
Placing
the documents before the bench, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that
details of account holders are of year 2006 which were supplied by the French
government to the Centre in 2011. He said that the data was stolen from HSBC
bank in Geneva which later reached France from where the government got the
information. He said the sealed envelope contained three documents --
government's correspondence with the French government, list of names and a
status report. He also informed the court that some people have accepted that
they have accounts in foreign banks and have paid tax.
The
bench, also comprising Justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Madan B Lokur allowed
the Centre to put forth its grievances regarding various treaties with foreign
countries before SIT.The bench said that the chairman and the vice chairman of
SIT are former Supreme Court judges and they are not "layman" and
they can decide on various issues arising out of black money probe. "We
will send the entire list to SIT and they can proceed in accordance with law.
It is for them to take care of how to conduct further probe," the bench
said.
Meanwhile,
the apex court did not allow the plea of Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal
to provide additional information on the issue to the SIT, saying that it will
consider his plea on next date of hearing on December 3.The Centre in its
affidavit on October 27, had disclosed eight names including that of Pradip
Burman, one of Dabur India promoters, a bullion trader and Goa miners against
whom it has started prosecution for allegedly stashing black money, saying that
all the names of account holders cannot be disclosed unless there is a
"prima facie" evidence of wrongdoing.Rejecting the Centre's stand,
the Supreme Court had on Monday ordered it to disclose all the names of Indian
bank account holders abroad in a sealed envelope.
Rajkot-based
bullion trader Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhya and Goa-based mining company Timblo
Private Limited and its five directors were among the names that figured in the
list which was filed in the apex court by the government."The government
is committed to disclose names of persons holding illegal money abroad.
However, every account held by an Indian in a foreign country may not be
illegal and the fundamental right of citizens to privacy under Article 21 of
the Constitution cannot be ignored and has been recognised by this court,"
it had said.
It had
urged the apex court to modify its earlier order directing it to reveal even
the names of foreign bank account holders against whom no evidence was found
for stashing black money saying the government may have problems entering into
tax agreements with other countries."There is absolutely no intention on
the part of the government to withhold information, including names of persons
who have stashed black money abroad, but only to seek certain clarification
that will enable the government to enter into agreements with other countries
under which information relating to unaccounted money lying abroad can be
obtained," it had said.
"The
information received under these tax treaties and agreements will be disclosed
after following the due process of law, in all cases where evasion of tax is
established. The intention of the present government is clear and
unambiguous.”"The government is keen to unearth black money held abroad
and for that purpose it will use all diplomatic and legal means and also all
investigating agencies to obtain information that can assist in such
unearthing," the affidavit had said.
2) Who is
this 'Yashpal Kapoor' on the Swiss bank accounts list?:
Sunday, October 26, 2014, that the HSBC Bank list of Indians
allegedly holding Swiss bank accounts has names matching two Congress leaders
-- 'Preneet Kaur' and one of former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane's
sons.
Preneet
Kaur, the former Union minister of state for external affairs, has since
declared that she does not hold any bank account abroad.This correspondent has
now learnt that another name on the list matches the name of a late Congress
leader, 'Yashpal Kapoor.'
The late
Yashpal Kapoor was one of then prime minister Indira Gandhi's closest aides. He
was also her election agent in Rae Bareli, her Lok Sabha constituency, and was
linked to the election malpractices case that led to Indira Gandhi's
disqualification as an MP by the Allahabad high court on June 12, 1975.
Thirteen
days later, on June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi declared a State of Emergency in
the country.Yashpal Kapoor -- whose nephew R K Dhawan was Indira Gandhi's private
secretary for many years -- was also chairman of the National Herald newspaper
3)
Kejriwal attacks govt on 'selective approach' in black money case:
Stepping
up the attack on the government on the black money issue, Aam Aadmi Party chief
Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday accused it of adopting a “selective” approach in
punishing the guilty and said he will try to meet the Special Investigative
Team probing the high-profile case to share some details.Demanding a thorough
and time-bound investigation, he said the ruling dispensation should give a
free hand to the probe agencies so that all those who have stashed money abroad
illegally face action.“We will ask for time from SIT and we will give our
suggestions and also give the names. We will request that the investigation be
done in a time-bound manner and strictest action be taken because my
information is that action is being taken against those whose names are there
in that list in a selective manner,” Kejriwal said.He alleged that the
government was “letting go some people without any punishment while some are
being made to pay the tax and some people are being raided. This should not
happen”.
“If you
are conducting raids, then raid all and record statements of all persons
involved. We all should rise above party lines and cooperate with the SIT,” he
said.The former Delhi chief minister also said that government agencies should
do their duties and conduct thorough probe in the casesComplying with Supreme
Court’s directions, the Centre on Wednesday gave to the apex court a list of
627 Indians who have accounts in HSBC bank, Geneva, in which tax probe for
suspected black money has to be completed by next March.
4) 1st BJP
govt in Maha to be sworn-in on Friday, Sena presence unlikely:
The first
Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra headed by state party chief
Devendra Fadnavis will be sworn in on Friday with Shiv Sena unlikely to join
the new dispensation for now as talks continued between the two saffron parties
for a tie-up.Fadnavis, 44, a four-term MLA from Nagpur, will be administered
the oath of office by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao at Wankhede Stadium in the
presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several of his Cabinet colleagues,
chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, corporate leaders, Bollywood stars and
other celebrities.A small Cabinet of around ten ministers including state BJP
Core Committee members Eknath Khadse, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawde and
Pankaja Munde besides MLAs from Schedule Castes and Scheduled tribes is also
likley to be sworn in.
"A
slim and trim government will take oath tomorrow," a BJP leader said.As
talks with former ally Shiv Sena for a possible tie-up are still going on, no
minister from that party was likely to be inducted on Friday."It seems
unlikely that any Shiv Sena minister will be sworn in tomorrow. Talks with Sena
are on in an amicable atmosphere for a possible tie-up in Maharashtra but there
has been no outcome yet," BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Maintaining
that BJP was looking forward to a decision soon, he said, "This may not
happen tomorrow."BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the
288-member state Assembly with 122 seats but one of its MLAs Govind Rathod
died.Though technically it will be a minority government until Sena joins it,
declared support from 41-member NCP will act as a hedge for the BJP
dispensation. It also has the support of several Independent MLAs and those
from some smaller parties.Meanwhile, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is likely
to hold discussions with senior leaders again on Thursday evening and announce
the party's stand on joining the government.Sena MP and spokesman Sanjay Raut
said "positive talks" were on between the two parties and extended
best wishes to Fadnavis and his team.
"A
new government led by Devendra Fadnavis is being formed. Like always, we wish
him well. He is a capable, young leader with clean image. We want him to get
the opportunity to take Maharashtra forward," Raut said.He, however, went
on to add that people's mandate was not for any single party.
5) High
drama in WB's Birbhum after BJP leaders arrested for defying orders:
Amid high
drama, Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was on
Thursday arrested along with party leaders for defying prohibitory orders when
they tried to enter trouble-torn Makra village in Birbhum district, made out of
bounds for politicians by Trinamool government.An incensed BJP accused the
Trinamool Congress government of trying to “gag the opposition with brute force”
and cover up the incidents in Makra where three persons were killed in a
political clash on Monday.Police said the BJP leaders were arrested when they
tried to enter the village in violation of the prohibitory orders under Section
144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.Other prominent BJP leaders arrested
included its state president Rahul Sinha and party MPs Kirti Azad and Udit Raj.
The MPs were part of the three-member central team led by Naqvi sent to the
village by the party to look into the violence.
Naqvi and
other BJP leaders were involved in a spat with the police, which stopped them,
and demanded that they be allowed to visit the village.Later they were arrested
when they tried to enter the village. A scuffle ensued as the BJP workers tried
to break police barricades.Naqvi claimed that he suffered injury when the
police personnel dragged him into the van.Slamming the police action, Naqvi
said, “It is a murder of democracy. The TMC government is trying to hide what
happened in Makra village. It is a shame.”
“The TMC
government is gagging the opposition voice using brute force,” the BJP leader
said. “Instead of using its energy to stop opposition parties, if the TMC
government spent 10 per cent of it towards curbing anti-national forces working
in the state, it would have been great for the country and the state,” he
said. Before the departure of the BJP
central team, a message sent from the state home department to the BJP office
in Kolkata said that prohibitory orders were in force in the village and
certain surrounding areas in Birbhum district. So they should plan their visit
accordingly.However, Naqvi continued with their visit saying he was not afraid
of being arrested
Calling
upon the state government to deal firmly with anti-national activities, Naqvi
alleged that “Trinamool Congress government is synonymous with terrorists and
mafia and they are letting the anti-national forces to use the land of Bengal
for terrorist activities”.When asked about media reports claiming that the
terror module unearthed in Bengal was planning to assassinate Bangladesh
premier Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia, Naqvi said “these
reports are not only of national concern but also have implications on
diplomatic ties”.
6) 5
Indian fishermen sentenced to death by Lankan court:
Five
Indian fishermen were given the death penalty by a Sri Lankan court on Thursday
for alleged drug trafficking, invoking a sharp reaction from India which took
up the matter with Sri Lanka and said it would appeal to a higher court against
the judgment within 14 days.The five Indians are among a group of eight people
sentenced to death by Colombo high court judge Preethi Padman Surasena for
alleged involvement in heroin trafficking between India and Sri Lanka in 2011.
The rest three are Sri Lankans.
However,
the Indian government, which has been pursuing their case for the last four
years, maintains that it has done due diligence and found them to be
innocent.Immediately reacting to the Sri Lankan court verdict, external affairs
ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin in New Delhi said, “After the judgment
against five fishermen by a lower court in Sri Lanka, India once again takes up
matter of their innocence with Sri Lanka and India’s high commission in Colombo
will appeal to higher court through a lawyer against the verdict.”While a
senior MEA official spoke to the Sri Lankan high commissioner to India in New
Delhi, the Indian high commissioner in Colombo was getting in touch with the
Sri Lankan government regarding the case.The spokesperson further said that
India has been pursuing the case at two levels - legal and official - and will
continue doing so.“India-Sri Lanka are in constant touch in aftermath of the
judgment against the Indian fishermen,” he added.
The five
fishermen, all hailing from Tamil Nadu, were apprehended in 2011 by the Sri
Lankan Navy on charges of smuggling of drugs in the seas off northern Jaffna’s
Delft islet.The issue of fishermen is a very emotive matter for both Sri Lanka
and India, where Tamil Nadu-based parties including All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have been regularly pressing
the Centre to take up the matter with the Lankan authorities seriously and have
often resented high-profile visits from the island nation.Sri Lanka has been
alleging that Indian fishermen regularly stray into its waters depriving local
fishermen of their livelihood.The two countries are separated by the narrow
Palk Strait which is also a rich fishing ground.Later, the MEA spokesperson in New
Delhi further said the case of the five Indian fishermen - Emerson, P Augustus,
R Wilson, K Prasath and J Langlet, who were apprehended on November 28, 2011,
by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of narcotics smuggling, have always
maintained their innocence.
The
Indian government through the high commission of India, Colombo and the
consulate general of India, Jaffna has been extending all possible consular
assistance to them, he said.“Government of India is fully committed to continue
providing all assistance to the Indian fishermen. The lawyers of the Indian
fishermen will file an appeal to the next court of appeal within the prescribed
14 days,” the spokesperson said.
7) Rs 5
lakh each compensation to kin of 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims:
The
government has decided to give Rs five lakh each to the next of kin of victims
of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots triggered after assassination of the then prime
minister Indira Gandhi.The compensation to the families of the riot victims
will be given in addition to what they have so far received from the government
and other agencies, a senior government official said.
Of the
3,325 victims, 2,733 were killed in Delhi alone while rest of the victims were
from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.The
Narendra Modi government had received several petitions from various Sikh
organisations in last three months and the decision came on the eve of 30th
death anniversary of Indira Gandhi.
The fresh
compensation, which will cost exchequer Rs 166 crore, will be disbursed
"as early as possible" and hopefully in the next few weeks, the
official said.The anti-Sikhs riots were triggered following the assassination
of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31,
1984.In 2006, the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had
announced a package of Rs 717 crore which included monetary compensation of Rs
3.5 lakh to each killed in the riots besides financial assistance to the
injured and those who had lost their property.Out of this only Rs 517 crore had
been spent and the remaining Rs 200 crore could not be distributed because of
dispute over claimants.The most affected regions were the Sikh neighbourhoods
in Delhi.Some of the anti-Sikh riot cases are still continuing in courts and
many Sikh organisations have alleged that the key conspirators of the violence
were at large and victims have not yet got justice.
In 2005,
former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had apologised for the 1984 anti-Sikh
violence saying Gandhi's assassination was a "great national tragedy"
and what happened subsequently was "equally shameful".
"I
have no hesitation in apologising to the Sikh community. I apologise not only
to the Sikh community, but to the whole Indian nation because what took place
in 1984 is the negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our
Constitution," he said.
During an
interview, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had admitted that some Congress
members were probably involved in the 1984 riots, in which innocent people had
died."Some Congressmen were probably involved...There is a legal process
through which they have gone through...Some Congressmen have been punished for
it," he had said.Supreme Court lawyer H S Phoolka, who has been fighting
anti-Sikh riot cases, welcomed the decision of the government.The Delhi unit of
the Bharatiya Janata Party, while welcoming the decision, urged the Centre to
get 237 cases related to 1984 anti-Sikh riots reopened for investigation.In a
letter written to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP MLA and party
national secretary R P Singh said, “The Sikh community has been demanding a
special investigation of those 237 cases which were pointed out in the report
of Justice Nanawati Committee for having been suppressed and later on closed by
the Delhi Police without being referred to any Court."
Delhi BJP
chief Satish Upadhyay said that while various governments announced a
compensation amount of 770 crore rupees for the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots
the payment of about 182 crores is still pending."Police had registered a
case against a Congress party leader and others which was withdrawn later in
1991 under political pressure when Congress came back to power," Singh
said in the letter.
Sports News
This Week:
1) Indian
Super League: At home, Delhi Dynamos feel the away blues:
What was
supposed to be a home match for Delhi Dynamos turned out to be more of an away
fixture. Up against NorthEast United FC in their fourth round encounter of the
Indian Super League, Delhi were outnumbered in the stands, with the majority of
support going the other way.It might have come as strange for the Delhi
players, who were at the receiving end of boos and catcalls. Hans Mulder,
Delhi’s utility player wondered as much after the match. Agreed the match ended
goalless, but still they didn’t deserve it.After all they were coming on the
back of a 4-1 win against Chennaiyin FC at the same Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium,
which on Wednesday seemed more like the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati, the
home of NorthEast United.
Each
NorthEast United move would be greeted with phenomenal lung power and amid loud
clapping, whistling and drumming, ‘Go United’ chants would go round the stadium
like Mexican wave.
The hosts
looked clearly rattled in the first 10 minutes of each half as the visitors
pressed and pressed hard. But the absence of Spanish World Cup winner Joan
Capdevila and Koke, who have scored two goals for NorthEast United – both due
to injuries – meant they could not sustain that pressure. What they lacked in
creativity, they tried to offset with hard work, but against a Delhi side which
was solid at the back, all the running proved fruitless.Delhi were defending
resolutely, putting everything on the line as they saw out the threats. It was
then Delhi’s turn to get things moving. Within the space of five minutes,
Alessandro Del Piero showed his class. First a gentle body feint was followed
by a rasping left-footer that went wide.
Then he
slid in a pass for Mads Junker who blew it away from inside the box. Sadly,
that remained the only time Delhi managed to have sent someone clear, for the
rest of the first half Ricki Herbert’s side kept them at arms length, the
visitors restricting Delhi in taking potshots from outside the box.Despite
repeated attempts, Delhi couldn’t get much of a look into goal. Efforts to
breach the defence would often get nipped in the bud with Kondwani Mtonga
putting up a solid display in front of defence. A similar work was being done
on the other side by Mulder and Bruno Herrero, both doing the spade work,
running tirelessly and mopping up the loose balls in the midfield.In fact the
enterprising Mulder could have had the last laugh, going close twice in the 86th
and 90th minutes, both times goalkeeper TP Rehenesh coming to the rescue. The
Kerala goalkeeper would come into the picture late in the first half as well,
diving to his right to stop a Del Piero freekick. The Italian World Cup winner
tried his best. At times he would sell
2) Real
Madrid hand 4-1 thrashing to Cornella in King’s Cup:
Raphael
Varane converted two corners as a second-string Real Madrid began the defence
of their King’s Cup crown with a 4-1 victory against third-tier part-timers
Cornella on Wednesday.The last-32, first leg pitted the world’s richest club by
income, with annual revenues of more than 600 million euros ($758 million),
against a club with a budget of around 1 million euros a season, who were
promoted to Spain’s regional Segunda B for the first time at the end of last
term.
Despite
the glaring mismatch, Barcelona-based Cornella, whose players include a dentist
and a school teacher, were not overawed by the occasion and after Varane nodded
Real in front from a James Rodriguez corner in the 10th minute, burly striker
Oscar Munoz levelled in the 20th with a fierce strike.France centre back Varane
made it 2-1 from Isco’s corner in the 36th minute and Javier Hernandez struck
eight minutes into the second half before substitute Marcelo rifled home the
rebound from an Isco effort 15 minutes from time.“It was important to get a
good win in this first leg,” Hernandez said in an interview with Spanish
television broadcaster Canal Plus.
“With all
our opponents the coach asks us to be professional and we treated this game in
exactly the same way as we would a ‘Clasico’ (against Barcelona),” added the
Mexican, who is on loan at Real from Manchester United.Cornella play their home
games at the club’s modest 1,500-capacity stadium but Wednesday’s match was
played at Espanyol’s 41,000-seater arena next door.The stadium was at least
half full, with plenty of Barcelona-based Real fans turning out to see their
team despite the absence of regulars like Cristiano Ronaldo, the injured Gareth
Bale and Iker Casillas.Spanish media reported the Cornella players have been
promised a bonus of around 1,400 euros if they achieve the feat of eliminating
Real, less than Ronaldo earns in a single hour.“We had to make the most of the
fact that we were playing in front of so many people for the first time,” Munoz
told Canal Plus.“I was very pleased with the goal but in the end their quality
counted and we let in four,” he added.
Real are
on course to meet city rivals Atletico Madrid in the last 16, with Barca the
probable opponents in the quarter-finals.
All but
two of the last-32, first legs take place at the beginning of December, but
Real’s has been brought forward because of the European champions’
participation in the Club World Cup in mid-December.Due to the disruption to
the La Liga calendar caused by the tournament in Morocco, Sevilla have also had
their first leg brought forward and play at second-division Sabadell later on
Wednesday.The return legs are at the beginning of December, when the Cornella
players will fulfill their dream of playing in one of the world’s great soccer
venues, Real’s Bernabeu stadium.
3) Sachin
Tendulkar inducted into Bradman Hall of Fame :
Sachin
Tendulkar added another feather to his cap on Wednesday when the Indian batting
legend was inducted as one of the latest honourees in the Bradman Foundation.At
a gala dinner held at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, former Australian
captain Steve Waugh was the other cricketer to enter the Bradman Hall of Fame
alongside Tendulkar.Tendulkar’s appearance at the annual Bradman Foundation
dinner is fitting as the late Aussie great once famously said that the Indian’s
technique reminded him of his own.Tendulkar, who had the honour of meeting
Bradman on his 90th birthday at his Adelaide home, was later listed in an
all-time XI prepared by the batting genius himself.
Recalling
the meeting that took place in 1998 at Bradman’s Adelaide’s home, Tendulkar
said both he and the other invitee, Shane Warne, were so daunted they couldn’t
decide who should speak first to the legendary Aussie batsman.
“I
remember Warnie was with me in the car and we were discussing who was going to
ask the first question,” Tendulkar told reporters in Sydney.“I said, ‘You are
from Australia, so you should start’. And he was like, ‘No, you’re a batsman,
so you can relate to him much better than what I can’,” he added.Tendulkar, 41,
enjoyed a good run at the SCG during his illustrious 24-year-long career,
scoring three centuries in five Tests.“The SCG is my favourite ground. I have
always maintained that. It brings back all the memories,” Tendulkar said as he
spoke publicly in Australia for the first time in six years.
“I was
just outside in the car and I said it feels great to be back. It’s been a very
social venue to me. Right back from 1991, which was the first time I played
here.”His unbeaten 241 not out in the 2003-04 series against the Aussies is
widely regarded as one of the finest innings seen at the venue.“(It’s) just the
feel of the ground. Whenever I walked in I felt I could go on and on batting. I
just enjoyed the atmosphere, and the pavilion especially. It’s a fabulous
pavilion with a lot of history. It is the heritage and the impact all the
players have left on this ground.
“Performing
against Australia always gave me a lot of satisfaction because I knew if you
perform against the leading side then everyone takes notice of your
performance. It is a different kind of satisfaction.”Tendulkar said there was a
strong mutual admiration between him and Bradman when they met 16 summers
ago.“One thing was just to be able to meet the great man but also to know the
funnier side of him.“I asked him a question: ‘what would you have averaged in
today’s cricket?’ He thought about it and said ‘Maybe 70′. The natural reaction
was ‘why only 70 and not 99?’ He said, ‘C’mon, that’s not
4)
Liverpool, Chelsea made to sweat in League Cup:
Mario
Balotelli enjoyed a rare moment of ecstasy in a Liverpool shirt by inspiring a
2-1 win over Swansea City in the League Cup on Tuesday while Chelsea had to
call for reinforcements to see off Shrewsbury Town.
On a
night when West Bromwich Albion were dumped out by second tier Bournemouth,
both Liverpool and Chelsea flirted with danger before reaching the
quarter-finals.Liverpool fans have seen precious little in Balotelli’s
performances this season to convince them he could ride to the rescue when the
chips were down but he came off the bench to turn the clash with Swansea on its
head.Entering the fray on 79 minutes, the Italian took seven minutes to level
the scores as he stole in front of his marker to prod home a cross from
compatriot Fabio Borini after Marvin Emnes had put Swansea ahead midway through
the second half with a superb volley.
A
sustained roar erupted around Anfield as Balotelli’s effort found the net, as
much in celebration of the goal as it was grounded in relief that the misfiring
striker had finally found his range at a crucial time.It was the start of a
dramatic finale that saw Swansea’s Federico Fernandez sent off for a late
tackle and Dejan Lovren head home the winner after four minutes of stoppage
time, to leave eight-times winners Liverpool well-placed to launch another
assault on a trophy they last won in 2012.
Premier
League leaders Chelsea needed a wake-up call before ousting fourth tier
Shrewsbury 2-1. Didier Drogba gave them the lead, with his third goal in three
games, but the match seemed headed for extra-time when Shrewsbury’s Andy Mangan
swivelled to fire past keeper Petr Cech with 13 minutes to play.
SUPERB
CROSS
Nemanja
Matic and Willian were promptly summoned from the bench to help quell the
uprising, the latter’s superb cross causing panic in the defensive ranks and
Jermaine Grandison turning the ball into his own net.
West Brom
probably thought they had done enough to force extra-time when a Tommy Elphick
own goal with five minutes to go at Bournemouth levelled the scores at 1-1. But
it was the hosts who progressed thanks to Callum Wilson’s late strike
Elsewhere, Derby County came from 2-0 down to beat Championship rivals Fulham
5-2 and Sheffield United downed Milton Keynes Dons 2-1.
5)
Vaulting ambition, soaring dreams
.jpg)
Stray
bullets would whiz past and shelling boomed like thunder in the background on
the border post just 2.5 km away from Bisweshwar Nandi’s home in the Agartala
of 1971.Just into his teens, the rookie had been in a hurry to get started on
the spartan gymnastics equipment that he saw on his school field, when Indian
soldiers were engaged in a war with East Pakistan not too far off. Parents and
elders would warn children not to step out of the house. He was forbidden from
going anywhere near the gymnastics apparatus. For days on end, the mortar-fire
would bawl into his ears. He’d sit cooped up in a room with his nose in the
books, a little scared, and reading the same line a hundred times without
anything registering on his mind. It didn’t help that he was a wiry kid. He was
also vaguely aware that Agartala itself was like a specky village that would
fall silent and stay indoors from 6 pm, compared to Kolkata or rest of Indian
metros.All of this made Bisweshwar Nandi feel fearfully small.
And to
think that the same BS Nandi is now dreaming of taking on the entire might of
the gymnastics world — USA, China and Russia — by training his student Dipa
Karmakar in some of gymnastics’ most sophisticated skills-set, urging her to
aim for the Olympics — nothing less, and making it look imminently possible. It
is an unlikely story of a young boy who was so mesmerised by gymnastics and
with a voracious appetite for knowledge, that he could take leaps of limb and
faith, and pass it onto his ward who has enjoyed a breakthrough season this
year: A bronze medal at Commonwealth Games; 4th at Asian Games and recently
10th at the World Championships — by far the highest placing ever for any
Indian gymnast, men or women, at the Worlds.
It was
this one man’s inspired decision to start Karmakar out on the 7.0
Difficulty-level (D-Level) world class Produnova vault which fetched her the
CWG medal, and his stubborn persistence in pushing the 21-year-old to pursue
this complicated routine that is getting Indian gymnastics a seriously curious
glance from the rest of the world. If you thought the coach and the girl are
fixated on just that one vault, Nandi has lined up immaculate plans to take
Karmakar to the Olympics by adding other variations to her arsenal.The small
boy, confined to his house feeling all walled in over 40 years ago, is breaking
free and reaching for the distant stars, not guffawing incredulously at the
hint of a possibility of an Olympic medal.It started when he allowed the name
Aleksandr Nikolaevich Dityatin to roll easy off his tongue. The Russian gymnast
once held the all-time Olympic record for most individual medals at a single
Games, until Michael Phelps fetched up.
Pankaj
Advani clinches World Billiards title, bags 3 Grand Doubles:
ndia's
most celebrated cueist Pankaj Advani clinched the World Billiards Championship
(time format) title to bag a record 12th world crown and also complete a rare
'Grand Double' post his third win in both the long and short formats in the
same year.
.jpg)
Bangalore's
'Golden Boy' set the green baize on fire as he humbled England's rising star
Robert Hall 1928-893 in a one-sided contest to hand his mother, Kajal, a
perfect birthday gift on Wednesday. He had won the 150-up format last week
after defeating Peter Gilchrist. Hall, who had got past Advani's citymate
Balachandra Bhaskar in the semifinals, could not stand up to the Indian ace and
the Englishman's maiden final appearance ended on a disappointing note. But it
was all smiles for Advani, whose third grand double makes him the only
billiards player to achieve this feat. Advani, 29, surpassed Mike Russell, who
had won the double in 2010 and 2011.
Advani's
previous grand doubles were in Malta in 2005 and in his hometown in 2008.
Saving his best for the last, which is often synonymous with Advani, he led
746-485 with the help of a 185 break in the first session of the five-hour
final. On resumption, the Indian ace fired in breaks of 94, 182, 289 and 145,
adding a whopping 1000 points in under two hours. Advani then went into
overdrive making the match a foregone conclusion with over hour left on the
clock. On how he was able to turn things around in the second session, Advani
said, "With a 260 lead in the first half, I knew I had things under
control. But Hall has the ability to come back so I decided that I was going to
score as much as possible on each visit. I spoke with my brother Shree who was
following the match online. A couple of tips from him did the trick too."
When
asked about the multiple records, a thrilled Advani said, "I don't know
what to say. The way I feel makes words seem incapable of truly depicting it. I
worked really hard on my game and fitness, both physical and mental before
coming here (to Leeds) and it definitely paid off. "I'm on my way to
Sheffield today to get billiards out of my system and switch to snooker in
order to prepare for the IBSF World Snooker Championship happening next month
in Bengaluru."
On
winning his 12th world title on his mother's birthday, he said, "This win
is truly special. Apart from the dozen world titles and the third grand double,
the main reason for it being so special is because it was won on my mother's
birthday. She is my rock. Happy birthday Mom! Hope you like your present."
Book Of
This Week:
The Woman
Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt :by Kara Cooney
An
engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt
and the story of her audacious rise to power in a man’s world.
Hatshepsut,
the daughter of a general who took Egypt's throne without status as a king’s
son and a mother with ties to the previous dynasty, was born into a privileged
position of the royal household. Married to her brother, she was expected to
bear the sons who would legitimize the reign of her father’s family. Her
failure to produce a male heir was ultimately the twist of fate that paved the
way for her inconceivable rule as a cross-dressing king. At just twenty,
Hatshepsut ascended to the rank of king in an elaborate coronation ceremony
that set the tone for her spectacular twenty-two year reign as co-regent with Thutmose
III, the infant king whose mother Hatshepsut out-maneuvered for a seat on the
throne. Hatshepsut was a master strategist, cloaking her political power plays
with the veil of piety and sexual expression. Just as women today face
obstacles from a society that equates authority with masculinity, Hatshepsut
had to shrewdly operate the levers of a patriarchal system to emerge as Egypt's
second female pharaoh.
Hatshepsut
had successfully negotiated a path from the royal nursery to the very pinnacle
of authority, and her reign saw one of Ancient Egypt’s most prolific building
periods. Scholars have long speculated as to why her images were destroyed
within a few decades of her death, all but erasing evidence of her rule.
Constructing a rich narrative history using the artifacts that remain, noted
Egyptologist Kara Cooney offers a remarkable interpretation of how Hatshepsut
rapidly but methodically consolidated power—and why she fell from public favor
just as quickly. The Woman Who Would Be King traces the unconventional life of
an almost-forgotten pharaoh and explores our complicated reactions to women in
power
Dr.
Kathlyn M. Cooney : Dr. Kara Cooney is an Egyptologist and
Assistant Professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA. She was awarded a
PhD in 2002 by Johns Hopkins University for Near Eastern Studies. She was part
of an archaeological team excavating at the artisans' village of Deir el Medina
in Egypt, as well as Dahshur and various tombs at Thebes.
In 2002
she was Kress Fellow at the National Gallery of Art and worked on the
preparation of the Cairo Museum exhibition Quest for Immortality: Treasures of
Ancient Egypt. She was a member of the teaching staff at Stanford and Howard
University. In 2005, she acted as fellow curator for Tutankhamun and the Golden
Age of the Pharaohs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Raised in Houston,
she obtained her B.A. from the University of Texas.
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