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Science
News This Week:
1) For
sheep horns, bigger is not better:
Trade-offs
between studliness and survival keep less endowed sheep in the mix.Sometimes it
pays to be mediocre. A new study shows that sheep with a 50/50 blend of genes
for small and big horns pass along more of their genes over a lifetime than
their purely big-horned brethren, who mate more often.The finding offers rare
insight into an enduring evolutionary paradox—why some traits persist despite
creating a reproductive disadvantage.The results, published online August 21 in
Nature, reveal that while big-horned sheep mated most successfully each season,
small-horned sheep survived longer. Rams who inherited one of each type of gene
from their parents got the best of both worlds: they lived longer than
bigger-horned sheep and mated more successfully than those with the smallest
horns.As a result, middle-of-the-road sheep passed on more of their genes over
time. “They’re the fittest of them all,” says Jon Slate of the University of
Sheffield in Scotland, who led the study.“This is a marvelous combination of
using the most modern tools available to confirm classic older views of sexual
selection,” says evolutionary geneticist Allen Moore of the University of
Georgia in Athens, who was not involved in the study.
Traits
such as bold peacock feathers and giant antlers evolved to garner the attention
of prospective females and boost reproductive success. Yet if each generation
of females continues to pick the most stellar males, Charles Darwin wondered,
how do sub-par versions of a trait continue to persist? “It’s something that
has preoccupied evolutionary biologists ever since,” Slate says.Attempts to
untangle the paradox have been confounded by the fact that most physical traits
are thought to involve multiple genes. But in a population of sheep living on a
chain of isolated Scottish isles, one gene bucks the trend.“This one gene had
such a massive effect on the size of the horns, and that was really unusual,”
says evolutionary geneticist and coauthor Susan Johnston of the University of
Edinburgh. Johnston discovered the gene, called relaxin-like receptor 2
(RXFP2), two years ago while analyzing the genetic fingerprints of thousands of
Soay sheep. Domesticated in the Neolithic era and roaming wild for the last
4,000 years, the Soay sheep weigh just 45 to 70 pounds and stand 2 feet high.
Scientists have studied the colony in the St. Kilda archipelago since 1985.
Two
different versions, or alleles, of the RXFP2 gene exist. One produces large,
curled horns that work well in a fight, and the other produces small horns.
Because sheep get a copy of the gene from each parent, males may possess two
big-horned alleles, two small-horned alleles or one of each. Sheep with two
big-horned alleles have the largest horns, whereas sheep with one of each have
smaller, yet substantial, horns. Rams cursed with two small-horned alleles
develop diminutive curled horns or stubby protrusions called scurs that are
worthless in competition. “They’re really quite pathetic,” Slate says.Slate and
his team analyzed samples collected from nearly 6,000 sheep on the island over
three decades. The team correlated reproductive success and overall survival
with the type of horn gene passed down with each generation.
Though
it’s unclear why small-horned sheep live longer, the authors propose that these
sheep may prolong their survival by steering clear of confrontation. Rather
than attempting to square off with larger-horned males, the sheep stuck with
scurs lie in wait for unattended females. The opportunistic breeders manage to
spread their seed while avoiding a losing battle. In contrast, the sheep with
the largest horns must protect and defend multiple females for several weeks
each year—a violent and energy-consuming endeavor that taxes survival.
The
concept of “heterozygote advantage”— when an animal benefits from having two
different versions of a gene — isn’t new, Johnston says, but “it’s quite often
overlooked, because there are just so few examples of it.” The gene that causes
sickle cell anemia is one such example: People who carry one copy of the
disease-associated allele and one healthy allele are resistant to malaria.
2) News in
Brief: Pictures of young star show unusual outbursts:
Ejections
from stellar newborn move faster, differently than astronomers thought.
New images of a young
star suggest that its ejections move much faster and have more energy than
previously thought.
As a young star
bursts to life, it throws off material at speeds up to 1 million kilometers per
hour. When the material collides with the surrounding cloud of gas and dust,
the space region glows, creating what’s called a Herbig-Haro object.
Images of the glowing
cloud Herbig-Haro 46/47 (pictured), which sits about 1,400 light-years away in
the southern constellation Vela, revealed something unusual. Ejections moving
toward Earth (pink and purple, upper left) slam directly into the surrounding
cloud, while material flowing away (orange and green, lower right) escapes it.
The star has an unexpected outflow that is also boring a hole through the
surrounding cloud and could be coming from a lower-mass neighbor.
Scientists describe
the observations, made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
and the New Technology Telescope in Chile, August 14 in the Astrophysical
Journal.
3) Human
Brains Are Hardwired for Empathy, Friendship:
Perhaps
one of the most defining features of humanity is our capacity for empathy --
the ability to put ourselves in others' shoes. A new University of Virginia
study strongly suggests that we are hardwired to empathize because we closely
associate people who are close to us -- friends, spouses, lovers -- with our
very selves.
"With
familiarity, other people become part of ourselves," said James Coan, a
psychology professor in U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences who used
functional magnetic resonance imaging brain scans to find that people closely
correlate people to whom they are attached to themselves. The study appears in
the August issue of the journal Social Cognitive and Affective
Neuroscience."Our self comes to include the people we feel close to,"
Coan said.In other words, our self-identity is largely based on whom we know
and empathize with. Coan and his U.Va. colleagues conducted the study with 22
young adult participants who underwent fMRI scans of their brains during
experiments to monitor brain activity while under threat of receiving mild
electrical shocks to themselves or to a friend or stranger. The researchers
found, as they expected, that regions of the brain responsible for threat
response -- the anterior insula, putamen and supramarginal gyrus -- became active
under threat of shock to the self. In the case of threat of shock to a
stranger, the brain in those regions displayed little activity. However when
the threat of shock was to a friend, the brain activity of the participant
became essentially identical to the activity displayed under threat to the
self.
"The
correlation between self and friend was remarkably similar," Coan said.
"The finding shows the brain's remarkable capacity to model self to
others; that people close to us become a part of ourselves, and that is not
just metaphor or poetry, it's very real. Literally we are under threat when a
friend is under threat. But not so when a stranger is under threat."Coan
said this likely is because humans need to have friends and allies who they can
side with and see as being the same as themselves. And as people spend more
time together, they become more similar.
"It's
essentially a breakdown of self and other; our self comes to include the people
we become close to," Coan said. "If a friend is under threat, it
becomes the same as if we ourselves are under threat. We can understand the
pain or difficulty they may be going through in the same way we understand our
own pain."This likely is the source of empathy, and part of the
evolutionary process, Coan reasons. "A threat to ourselves is a threat to
our resources," he said. "Threats can take things away from us. But
when we develop friendships, people we can trust and rely on who in essence
become we, then our resources are expanded, we gain. Your goal becomes my goal.
It's a part of our survivability.People need friends, Coan added, like
"one hand needs another to clap."
4)
Tuberculosis Genomes Portray Secrets of Pathogen's Success:
By any
measure, tuberculosis (TB) is a wildly successful pathogen. It infects as many
as two billion people in every corner of the world, with a new infection of a
human host estimated to occur every second.
Now,
thanks to a new analysis of dozens of tuberculosis genomes gathered from around
the world, scientists are getting a more detailed picture of why TB is so
prevalent and how it evolves to resist countermeasures. Writing today (Aug. 21,
2013) in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Pathogens, a team led by
University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Caitlin Pepperell describes a
bacterium that marches in lockstep with human population growth and history,
evolving to take advantage of the most crowded and wretched human
conditions."It's as though the bacterium places bets on human
behavior," says Pepperell, formerly of Stanford University, and now a
professor of medicine and medical microbiology at UW-Madison. "It always
bets that humans will go to war, send people to refugee camps, and gather in
miserable places. Historically, that's been a winning bet on the bacterium's
part."
The PLoS
Pathogens study, whose senior author is Marcus Feldman of Stanford, reveals
that tuberculosis experienced a 25-fold expansion worldwide in the 17th
century, a time when human populations underwent explosive growth and European
exploration of Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania was at its peak."The
timing is coincident with expansion, urbanization and colonial migrations of
global human populations," Pepperell explains. "These findings
suggest that much of the current TB pandemic has its origins in historical
events of the last three centuries."
TB is
only transmitted by people, and the organism cannot survive in the environment.
It thrives, however, in the crowded conditions of prisons, refugee camps and
slums, and TB populations tend to be dominated by the bacteria
"lucky" enough to land in those environments.The analysis conducted
by Pepperell and her colleagues focused on the role of natural selection,
looking at patterns of genetic diversity among 63 TB and related pathogenic mycobacterial
genomes gathered from around the globe.
The study
shows a highly constrained bacterial genome, with most deleterious mutations
quickly discarded. This was especially true for genes essential for causing
disease, protein translation and the trafficking and metabolism of inorganic
ions, which help control the interaction between the TB pathogen and its human
host.The bacterium's "defense" genes, on the other hand, showed a
high degree of tolerance for beneficial mutations, which may play a role in
evolution of drug resistance and evasion of the human immune system.Pepperell
notes: "Evolutionary theory predicts that Mycobacterium tuberculosis
populations should be vulnerable to extinction. Yet it is obviously highly
prevalent. It must have some incredibly clever strategies and tricks to hang
on."
As a
result, the explosive spread of TB parallels the growth of human populations
and takes every advantage of a world where most people live in crowded and
impoverished conditions.The study, according to Pepperell, should help other
researchers home in on genes that may be good candidates for targeting with new
drugs, and aid disease control strategies that accommodate or even co-opt the
bacterium's evolution and help drive its extinction.In addition to Pepperell
and Feldman, co-authors of the new study include Amanda Casto, Julie Granka and
Omar Cornejo of Stanford; Andrew Kitchen of the University of Iowa; Eddie
Holmes of the University of Sydney; and Bruce Birren and James Galagan of the
Broad Institute.
5)
Physicists Pinpoint Key Property of Material That Both Conducts and Insulates:
It is
well known to scientists that the three common phases of water -- ice, liquid
and vapor -- can exist stably together only at a particular temperature and
pressure, called the triple point.
Also well
known is that the solid form of many materials can have numerous phases, but it
is difficult to pinpoint the temperature and pressure for the points at which
three solid phases can coexist stably.Scientists now have made the first-ever
accurate determination of a solid-state triple point in a substance called
vanadium dioxide, which is known for switching rapidly -- in as little as one
10-trillionth of a second -- from an electrical insulator to a conductor, and
thus could be useful in various technologies."These solid-state triple
points are fiendishly difficult to study, essentially because the different
shapes of the solid phases makes it hard for them to match up happily at their
interfaces," said David Cobden, a University of Washington physics
professor.
"There
are, in theory, many triple points hidden inside a solid, but they are very
rarely probed."Cobden is the lead author of a paper describing the work,
published Aug. 22 in Nature.In 1959, researchers at Bell Laboratories
discovered vanadium dioxide's ability to rearrange electrons and shift from an
insulator to a conductor, called a metal-insulator transition. Twenty years
later it was discovered that there are two slightly different insulating
phases.The new research shows that those two insulating phases and the
conducting phase in solid vanadium dioxide can coexist stably at 65 degrees
Celsius, give or take a tenth of a degree (65 degrees C is equal to 149 degrees
Fahrenheit).To find that triple point, Cobden's team stretched vanadium dioxide
nanowires under a microscope. The team had to build an apparatus to stretch the
tiny wires without breaking them, and it was the stretching that allowed the
observation of the triple point, Cobden said.
It turned
out that when the material manifested its triple point, no force was being
applied -- the wires were not being stretched or compressed.The researchers
originally set out simply to learn more about the phase transition and only
gradually realized that the triple point was key to it, Cobden said. That process
took several years, and then it took a couple more to design an experiment to
pin down the triple point."No previous experiment was able to investigate
the properties around the triple point," he said.He regards the work as
"just a step, but a significant step" in understanding the
metal-insulator transition in vanadium dioxide. That could lead to development
of new types of electrical and optical switches, Cobden said, and similar
experiments could lead to breakthroughs with other materials."If you don't
know the triple point, you don't know the basic facts about this phase
transition," he said. "You will never be able to make use of the
transition unless you understand it better."
6) MERS
Virus Discovered in Bat Near Site of Outbreak in Saudi Arabia:
A 100%
genetic match for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) has been discovered
in an insect-eating bat in close proximity to the first known case of the
disease in Saudi Arabia. The discovery points to the likely animal origin for
the disease, although researchers say that an intermediary animal is likely
also involved.
Led by
team of investigators from the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, EcoHealth Alliance, and
the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the study is the first
to search for an animal reservoir for MERS in Saudi Arabia, and the first to
identify such a reservoir by finding a genetic match in an animal. Results
appear online in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention."There have been several reports of
finding MERS-like viruses in animals. None were a genetic match. In this case
we have a virus in an animal that is identical in sequence to the virus found
in the first human case. Importantly, it's coming from the vicinity of that
first case," says W. Ian Lipkin, MD, director of the Center for Infection
and Immunity and a co-author of the study.
MERS was
first described in September 2012 and continues to spread. Close to 100 cases
have been reported worldwide, 70 of them from Saudi Arabia. The causative
agent, a new type of coronavirus, has been determined; however, the origin of
the virus has been unknown until now.Over a six-week period during field expeditions
in October 2012 and April 2013, the researchers collected more than 1,000
samples from seven bat species in regions where cases of MERS were identified
in Bisha, Unaizah, and Riyadh. Extensive analysis was performed using
polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing revealed the presence of a wide
range of alpha and beta coronaviruses in up to a third of bat samples. One
fecal sample from an Egyptian Tomb Bat (Taphozous perforatus) collected within
a few kilometers of the first known MERS victim's home contained sequences of a
virus identical to those recovered from the victim.
Bats are
the reservoirs of viruses that can cause human disease including rabies,
Hendra, Nipah, Marburg, and SARS. In some instances the infection may spread
directly from bats to humans through inadvertent inhalation of infected
aerosols, ingestion of contaminated food, or, less commonly, a bite wound. In
other instances bats can first infect intermediate hosts. The researchers
suggest that the indirect method for transmission is more likely in MERS.
"There
is no evidence of direct exposure to bats in the majority of human cases of
MERS," says Ziad Memish, MD, Deputy Minister of Health, Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, and lead author of the study. "Given that human-to-human
transmission is inefficient, we speculate that an as-yet-to-be determined
intermediate host plays a critical role in human disease."
"We
are continuing to look for evidence of the virus in wildlife and domestic
animals, and investigating the mechanisms by which the virus causes human
disease," adds Dr. Lipkin. "This is but the first chapter in a
powerful collaboration amongst partners committed to global public
health."In the coming days, the group will be reporting the results of its
investigation into the possible presence of MERS in camels, sheep, goats, and
cattle.
Political
News This Week:
1)
J&K: Jawan injured in grenade attack by militants:
An Army
jawan was injured in a grenade attack by militants in Shopian district of south
Kashmir on Thursday.
Unidentified
militants hurled a grenade on a patrol party of Rashtriya Rifles at Imam Sahib
in Shopian town, near Srinagar, on Thursday afternoon, officials said.
"The
injured jawan was shifted to hospital for treatment", a senior police
officer said. The area was later searched by the security forces.
The
grenade exploded causing splinter injuries to a jawan who was evacuated to
hospital. The whole area has been cordoned off and a hunt has been launched to
nab the militants involved in the attack, the officials said.
No
militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the grenade attack.
2) Train
kills dozens of Hindu pilgrims in Bihar:
A
high-speed train plowed into a crowd of Hindu pilgrims who were crossing the
tracks at a remote station in east India on Monday, killing at least 37 people
and leaving behind a scene of carnage.
An
enraged crowd dragged the driver out and began beating him, and set parts of
the train on fire, sending up a pillar of thick black smoke that could be seen
from miles away. The crowd remained so furious that hours passed before
firefighters and rescue workers were able to approach the site of the accident,
officials said. A train dispatched to assist the wounded was forced to halt on
the tracks a mile away. The disaster stood out even in a season of terrible
accidents.
The
station was a remote one - inaccessible by road - and the high-speed Rayja Rani
Express typically barrels through without stopping at a speed of around 50
miles an hour. Railway officials said the driver had been given clearance to
pass through. But Monday was the last day of a holy month in India, and
hundreds of people were disembarking from two stopped passenger trains, on
their way to a temple a half-mile away to offer holy water to Shiva, the Hindu
god of destruction. A top official at the railway ministry, Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury, said the driver had pulled the emergency brake when he saw people on
the tracks but was unable to stop the train. "It was all quite
frightening," said Rohit Kumar, a passenger, who jumped off the train and ran
for a quarter-mile to the nearest station when the crowd began to attack.
"I'm standing here and watching smoke billowing out from the train. It was
nightmarish. So scary." SK Singh, the deputy magistrate of the Saharsa
District, said 37 people were confirmed dead, including several children.
India's railway minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, said 28 had died, and noted that
the pilgrims were crossing the tracks illegally. Parliamentary discussion
Monday afternoon deteriorated into a shouting match over whether the government
bore responsibility. The chief minister of Bihar, the state where the disaster
occurred, called it "the rarest of rare tragedies." He pledged
200,000 rupees (around $3,180) to the victims' families, and urged the Railways
Ministry to do the same. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released a statement
calling for "calm in the area so that the relief and rescue operations can
be carried out without any hindrance." The station, Dhamara Ghat, was also
inaccessible by car during the current flood season, so rescue workers were
compelled to walk more than two miles from the nearest road to reach the
injured, a regional police spokesman said.
A series
of disasters have befallen pilgrims in India this year. In June, thousands
drowned when flash floods struck the northern state of Uttarakhand, and the
Indian authorities evacuated more than 100,000. In February, dozens were killed
in a train-station stampede at the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu religious festival on
the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers
3) Pak
troops violate ceasefire along LoC again:
Pakistani
troops yet again violated the bilateral ceasefire in the Hamirpur area along
the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu region late on Wednesday
evening, a defence spokesperson said.
“Pakistan
army firing small arms, automatics and mortars in Hamirpur. Effective
retaliation by own troops. Firing in progress. No casualty or damage on own
side,” he added.
Pakistani
troops had violated the ceasefire in the same sector on Tuesday. The firing
exchanges had continued for several hours.The ceasefire violations have
triggered tension on the LoC and international border in Jammu region.
4) It is a
WAR out there in Egypt:
More than
a month after the unceremonious ouster of President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt
continues to burn with rage and throb with grief.
Smoke
rises near Al-Fath Mosque during clashes at Ramses Square in Cairo. Thousands
of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi took to the streets, urging a
'Day of Rage' to denounce the assault by security forces on Muslim Brotherhood
protesters that killed hundreds.
The army
deployed dozens of armoured vehicles on major roads in Cairo, and the interior
ministry has said police will use live ammunition against anyone threatening
state installations.A torn poster of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi
is seen as riot police clear the area of his supporters, at Rabaa Adawiya
square, where they had been camping, in Cairo.
At least
95 Egyptians were killed after security forces moved in on protesters demanding
Mursi's reinstatement, and the government imposed a state of emergency as
unrest swept the most populous Arab nation. Egyptian army soldiers guard with
armoured personnel carriers near Tahrir Square in Cairo.Suspected Islamist
militants killed at least 24 Egyptian policemen in the Sinai peninsula, where
attacks on security forces have multiplied since the army overthrew President
Mohamed Mursi on July 3.
Supporters
of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi shout
slogans against the military and interior ministry during a protest in front of
Al Istkama mosque at Giza Square, south of Cairo. Egypt's army-backed rulers
met on Sunday to discuss their bloody confrontation with deposed President
Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood amid contrasting proposals for compromise
and a fight to the death.
In a
televised speech to military and police officers, army chief Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi vowed to crack down on anyone using violence, but also struck an
apparently inclusive note, telling Mursi's supporters, "There is room for
everyone in Egypt". A member of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporter of
ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi shouts slogans after being injured
during clashes in front of Azbkya police station during clashes at Ramses
Square in Cairo.
Islamist
protests descended into a bloodbath across Egypt, with around 50 killed in
Cairo alone, on a 'Day of Rage' called by followers of ousted President Mohamed
Mursi to denounce a crackdown by the army-backed government.As automatic
gunfire echoed across Cairo, the standoff appeared to be sliding ever faster
towards armed confrontation, evoking past conflict between militant Islamists
and the state in the Arab world's most populous nation.
Riot
police and army soldiers protect themselves with riot shields as members of the
Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi
throw stones during clashes around the area of Rabaa Adawiya square, where they
are camping, in Cairo.
The death
toll from an Egyptian police raid on supporters of Mursi at a Cairo protest
camp has climbed to 60 at one hospital, according to a nurse, who said she
counted the bodies.
5) Army
sends out long range patrol to figure out Chinese plans:
The fact
that the PLA patrol came nearly 20 km deep into what India perceives as its own
territory and stayed put -- for four days -- has made the Eastern Command a
little more cautious about Chinese intentions, reports RS Chauhan
A week
after the faceoff with a Chinese army patrol near Chaglagam in eastern
Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian Army’s leadership has sent out a long range
patrol to the arduous region to once again get a first-hand feel of the area
and determine what the Chinese are up to, top army sources said.
While the
general area of "fishtail”, so called because of the way the Line of
Actual Control looks on the map, has been one of the more hotly disputed points
on the border, the fact that the PLA patrol came nearly 20 km deep into what
India perceives as its own territory and stayed put -- for four days -- has
made the Eastern Command a little more cautious about Chinese intentions.
The deep
intrusion is all the more alarming since in the eastern sector (Arunachal
Pradesh and Sikkim), both India and China have more or less stuck to the
“watershed" principle whereby the "line of perception" of each
side is aligned to the ridge lines that exist in these mountainous terrains. In
Ladakh, on the other hand, the vast expanse of plateau makes it difficult to
delineate the LAC, leave alone the boundary whenever it is settled.
Often
both sides patrol up to their own lines of perceptions, an argument that was
also put forward in explaining last week's intrusion as deep as 20 km in Anjaw
district by the Chinese patrol.
Guarding
the LAC ahead of Chaglagam area is the responsibility of the Indo-Tibetan Border
Police, which reported the Chinese transgression to the army. The ITBP position
is ahead of the army positions.
The army,
however, said the incident was not comparable with the stand-off at Depsang in
eastern Ladakh in April when Chinese troops pitched tents. That faceoff lasted
21 days before Indian and Chinese soldiers withdrew from their positions
following a series of flag meetings.
The
explanation of the Chinese pitching tents in Chaglagam area is that soldiers on
long-range patrols might carry tents and equipment to shelter themselves from
the weather in the heights. In the fishtail area, at heights above 11,000 ft,
the patrols can last up to 12 days.
India has
sought to plug the earlier gaps in its deployment in both western and eastern
Arunachal Pradesh by placing the recently raised mountain divisions and
reordering its earlier ORBAT (order of battle). So now, the Dimapur-based 3
Corps is in charge of eastern Arunachal Pradesh, deploying 56 and 2nd Mountain
Divisions in the area against the earlier deployment of just the 2nd Mountain
Division. In western Arunachal Pradesh, the Tezpur-based 4 Corps has under it
the old 5 Division based at Tenga and the newly raised 71 Division.
6) PM may
intervene in discussion on missing coal ministry files:
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh may intervene in the discussion on several files
pertaining to coal block allocations going missing, Minister of State for
Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said on Thursday.Shukla made the
announcement after main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and All India Anna
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stalled Question Hour in Rajya Sabha seeking response
from the prime minister on the issue of missing files.
"Prime
Minister may also intervene in case it is required," Shukla told the
House, which saw a brief adjournment after it met for the day.He said that in
response to demands by Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley and several
members, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal made a statement on the issue on
Tuesday."Some clarifications were sought (and) clarifications were given.
(However) it remained inconclusive. We are ready to conclude that discussion
and if necessary prime minister may also intervene," he said.The response
came after Jaitley said the opposition was not convinced by Jaiswal's statement
and prime minister should give clarification."The prime minister is in the
House... Prime minister should give his reaction," he said as Singh
watched the proceedings from his seat.V Maitreyan (AIADMK), who had given a
notice for suspension of Question Hour, said missing of important files has
been termed by CBI director as a "serious set back" to investigation.
The CBI
director had stated that "you can draw your own conclusions" when
asked if there was a conspiracy in files going missing, Maitreyan said, adding
this was a serious issue and "Prime Minister necessarily needs to
intervene and clarify the matter."Earlier, when the House met Ravi Shankar
Prasad (BJP) said Jaiswal should not have made the statement as it was in
conflict of interest since he was arbitrator in deciding on a family feud in
AMR Co, which was a beneficiary of coal block allocation.
7) Rs
5,000: Tunda's monthly salary for bomb-making:
Abdul
Karim Tunda, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba’s bomb-maker, has revealed the terrorist
organisation's salary structure and generous perks. Vicky Nanjappa reports.For
a notorious bomb-maker, Abdul Karim Tunda earned just Rs 5,000 a month as
salary from the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.Intelligence Bureau agents and police
officers, who have interrogated scores of terrorists, reveal when someone joins
the Lashkar -- which is among the richest terrorist organisations today -- they
earn Rs 2,000 a month.
"This
is just an appreciation fee; terrorists find it of no use,” one investigator
said.Tunda and other terrorists revealed during their interrogation that the
Lashkar ensures that all other needs --- clothes, shelter and food -- are taken
care of and everything is paid for by the handler of each terrorist.The Lashkar
is extremely generous when it comes to helping its terrorists send money back
home. Arrested terrorists said they are given anything between Rs 10,000 to Rs
15,000 once in two months to give their families.According to Tunda, the
Lashkar prefers recruits who believe in jihad.
'There
was a time when we were hard pressed for recruits and hence started luring
people with money. However, it was counter productive. We realised that such
people did not sustain for long, and often gave away secrets when they were
bribed by others,' Tunda told his interrogators.He added that the new batch of
recruits consists of only educated youth who have left behind their comforts to
fight for the cause of jihad.Tunda also revealed that while the salaries were
low, the Lashkar does not think twice before spending money on
operations.Several million dollars are allocated for the procurement of arms
and ammunition. When a terrorist is sent for a major operation, he is given a
lot of money.
Most of
the funding, Tunda told his interrogators, comes in through the Dawood Ibrahim
criminal network and through the sale of counterfeit currency.After Indian
security agencies stepped up their vigil on the routes where counterfeit
currency came into the country, the terrorists have expanded these operations
to the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Holland.
The main
terrorist counterfeit currency printing unit is located in Peshawar; it was
moved out of Islamabad a year ago.Individuals involved in this racket demand a
very high commission -- for every Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) worth of fake
currency circulated, the commission is Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000).
Sports News
This Week:
1) Trials
postponed, India in doubt for World Championship?:
The
administrative wrangling in the suspended Indian Boxing Federation could end up
costing the country's boxers a chance to compete in this year's World
Championships.The national trials for the event were scheduled to be held on
August 16 and 17 in Patiala but were postponed till the end of this month with
neither the boxers nor the coaches having any clue about the reasons.
"We
have just been told that the trials would now be held at the end of this month
and nothing more. We have not been given any reason as to why the trials have
been delayed," a boxer told PTI.It is learnt that the IBF plans to hold
the trials after the much-anticipated August 25 meeting between the
International Olympic Committee and the Indian Olympic Association to discuss
the country's suspension.
But that
would leave very little time for the team to be finalised as the last date for
submission of entries for the October 11 to 27 Championships in Almaty,
Kazakhstan is September 1.The IOA-IOC meeting would be watched with bated
breath by the IBF as the International Boxing Association (AIBA) had cited
India's Olympic suspension as the primary reason for provisionally barring
IBF.Even though putting together a team after the IOA-IOC meeting, if at all it
brings some good news for IBF, would not be much of a hassle but the
apprehension is that AIBA could altogether shunt India out of the World
Championships due to the IBF's failure to conduct a re-election.
AIBA had
given "possible manipulation" in elections as the second reason for
suspending the IBF."A lot hinges on this IOC-IOA meeting. India's World
Championships participation is dicey if all doesn't go well," a source
said.It has been close to a year since the provisional suspension was handed
out by the AIBA but the IBF has still not conducted the re-election which the
international body had asked for.
2) Maria
Sharapova pulls out of US Open due to shoulder injury:
Third-seeded
Russian Maria Sharapova has pulled out of next week's U.S. Open due to a
shoulder injury, tournament organisers said on Wednesday.The four-times grand
slam winner, who triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2006, fired coach Jimmy
Connors last week after just one match together. Also Read: To finish the year
in top-100 would be great, says SomdevThe 26-year-old world number three, who
is suffering from inflammation in her right shoulder, said withdrawing from the
year's final grand slam was "a really tough decision to make"."I
have done everything I could since Wimbledon to get myself ready but it just
wasn't enough time," she said in statement on her Facebook page. Also
Read: Top-10 doubles rank is a very realistic goal, says Divij
"I
have done many tests, received several opinions and it all comes down to taking
the proper amount of time to heal my shoulder injury properly."It's
certainly not an easy decision to make ahead of one of my favourite
tournaments, but I know it's the right one that will get me back on the courts
soon."I plan on taking the next few weeks off, receiving proper treatment
and rehabilitation."Sharapova lost to 20-year-old American Sloane Stephens
in the second round of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati last week in
her only match since a second-round exit at Wimbledon.Her absence from Flushing
Meadows at least puts to rest widely reported plans she had to legally change
her name for the U.S. Open in a publicity stunt for her candy business.
Defending
champion Serena Williams is the top seed for the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows
in New York, ahead of Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Poland's Agnieszka
Radwanska, who now moves up to third.Tournament director David Brewer had
earlier announced Sharapova's withdrawal.
3) Neymar
rescues Barcelona:
Brazilian
forward Neymar came off the bench to head his first competitive goal for
Barcelona and rescue a 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the
Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday.
David
Villa struck a superb 12th-minute volley against the club he left in the close
season to put Atletico ahead in the two-legged showpiece that pits last term's
league champions Barca against the King's Cup winners.On a sweltering night at
the Calderon, Barca struggled to create chances for an equaliser against a
typically resolute Atletico defence, with World Player of the Year Lionel Messi
unusually anonymous.
The
Argentina forward was replaced by Cesc Fabregas at the break as a precaution
after picking up a problem in his left thigh muscle before Neymar made a
near-immediate impact after coming on for Pedro.The 21-year-old sped in
unmarked at the far post and leaped to nod home a cross from compatriot Daniel
Alves for a 66th minute leveller.He had only been on the pitch a matter of
minutes and it was his first goal in a competitive match since a high-profile
move from Santos."If they had told us what his first goal in an official
game was going to be we would not have expected a header," Barca sporting
director Andoni Zubizarreta said in an interview with Spanish television broadcaster
TVE."Neymar is a player of great quality and we will give him time to
adapt," added the former Barca and Spain goalkeeper.
Zubizarreta
said Messi's injury appeared to be the result of bruising and the club said on
their website (www.fcbarcelona.es) he would be having more tests on
Thursday.The return leg of the Super Cup is at Barca's Nou Camp stadium next
Wednesday.
4) Key
bookie Chandresh Jain held in IPL 6 spot-fixing case:
A bookie alleged to be a 'key' person was arrested on Thursday, taking the number of those held in connection with the IPL betting case until now to 22, the police said.
Chandresh
Jain alias 'Jupiter' was arrested on Thursday after he was brought to the city
on a transit remand, since he was in the custody of the Delhi police, which had
registered the IPL spot-fixing case during its sixth season, an official
said.'Jupiter' was in touch with Pakistani bookies via conference calls using
four out of the 30 telephone lines, allegedly facilitated by one Ramesh Vyas
who has been arrested, the official said."He was constantly in touch with
Shobhan Mehta, a key bookie who has been arrested and the Jaipur brothers who
are wanted by the police. He also placed bets during the IPL 6 season,"
the official said.With Jupiter's arrest, the number of those arrested in the
IPL betting case so far has gone up to 22, including Ramesh Vyas, Ashok Vyas
and Pandurang Kadam, among others.
After
Ramesh Vyas's arrest in May, the police had recovered 92 mobile phones, 18 SIM
cards, a laptop among other equipment. Thirty of these phones were used to
facilitate contacts with bookies in India, Pakistan and Dubai through
conference calls made by Vyas.Chennai Super Kings owner Gurunath Meiyappan, who
is the son-in-law of N Srinivasan who had stepped aside as BCCI president and
Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh were also arrested in the case and are
currently out on bail.The Delhi Police had registered the case and filed a
chargesheet naming Rajasthan Royals players S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and
Ankeet Chavan, among 39 others as accused.
Movie
Release This Week:
When her
mom is attacked and taken from their home in New York City by a demon, a seemingly
ordinary teenage girl, Clary Fray, finds out truths about her past and
bloodline on her quest to get her back, that changes her entire life.
20 years
after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them
becomes hell bent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to
stage an encore by mate Gary King, a 40-year old man trapped at the cigarette
end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their home town and once
again attempts to reach the fabled pub, The World's End. As they attempt to
reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the
future, not just theirs but humankind's. Reaching The World's End is the least
of their worries.
Directed
by acclaimed filmmaker Wong Kar Wai, The Grandmaster is an epic action feature
inspired by the life and times of the legendary kung fu master, Ip Man. The
story spans the tumultuous Republican era that followed the fall of China’s
last dynasty, a time of chaos, division and war that was also the golden age of
Chinese martial arts. Filmed in a range of stunning locations that include the
snow-swept landscapes of Northeast China and the subtropical South, The
Grandmaster features virtuoso performances by some of the greatest stars of
contemporary Asian cinema, including Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang.
An Alaska
State Trooper partners with a young woman who escaped the clutches of serial
killer Robert Hansen to bring the murderer to justice. Based on actual events.
In the
film a television documentary crew begins shooting a jungle survival special on
the remote Mayaman Island in the Philippines. Things start out casual for host
Sebastian "Seb" Beazley (Zane) and his team until the jungle takes a
terrifying turn. With horror they discover a local legend is all too real when
a mythical creature called the Aswang ultimately descends from the trees and
begins stalking them through the jungle.
Book of This Week:
The Mayan Secrets : by Clive Cussler, Thomas Perry:
Overview:
Husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are in Mexico, when they come upon a remarkable discovery—the skeleton of a man clutching an ancient sealed pot, and within the pot, a Mayan book, larger than anyone has ever seen. The book contains astonishing information about the Mayans, about their cities, and about mankind itself. The secrets are so powerful that some people would do anything to possess them—as the Fargos are about to find out.
Before their adventure is done, many men and women will die for that book—and Sam and Remi may just be among them.
Meet the Author:
CLIVE CUSSLER is the author of dozens of New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Striker and Zero Hour. He lives in Arizona.
THOMAS PERRY is the author of many novels, including the Edgar Award winner The Butcher’s Boy, and the Jane Whitefield series. He is the coauthor with Cussler of The Tombs. Perry lives in southern California.
Book Collage of This Week |
The Mayan Secrets : by Clive Cussler, Thomas Perry:
Overview:
The Mayan Secrets |
Husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are in Mexico, when they come upon a remarkable discovery—the skeleton of a man clutching an ancient sealed pot, and within the pot, a Mayan book, larger than anyone has ever seen. The book contains astonishing information about the Mayans, about their cities, and about mankind itself. The secrets are so powerful that some people would do anything to possess them—as the Fargos are about to find out.
Before their adventure is done, many men and women will die for that book—and Sam and Remi may just be among them.
Meet the Author:
CLIVE CUSSLER |
CLIVE CUSSLER is the author of dozens of New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Striker and Zero Hour. He lives in Arizona.
THOMAS PERRY |
THOMAS PERRY is the author of many novels, including the Edgar Award winner The Butcher’s Boy, and the Jane Whitefield series. He is the coauthor with Cussler of The Tombs. Perry lives in southern California.
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