CRPF special DG Vijay Raman told the Times of India that 26 CRPF men have been confirmed dead and 5 injured. The casualties may be higher. “These are not final figures,” Raman said.

The attack took place just three kilometres from a CRPF camp in Dhaudhai on a road leading to the densely forested Maoist-controlled Abhujhmad area.

The party of “about company strength with 70 personnel” was on its way back from clearing the road when the Maoists opened fire from a hilltop.

“We are in the process of evacuating our men. Some have been brought back. Others are being brought back to safety,” said R K Dua, IG CRPF. He added that while two seriously injured men had been evacuated by helicopter, the air sortees had to be suspended as evening fell.

Brigadier B K Ponwar, who heads the Jungle Warfare College in Kanker said, “You have to be doubly secure when making the return journey along the same route. You need to secure all areas from where you can be fired upon.”

Union home secretary G K Pillai said security and medical reinforcements have been sent to the spot and all the bodies have been recovered. The injured have been taken to a hospital by a helicopter, he said, PTI reported.

The troops were from the 39th battalion of the force and were a part of its ‘E’ and ‘F’ companies, CRPF chief Vikram Srivastava said.

On May 8, eight men of the paramilitary force were killed when naxals blew up a mine-proof vehicle also in Narayanpur district.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/26-CRPF-personnel-killed-in-Maoists-attack-in-Chhattisgarh/articleshow/6106846.cms

“Soy foods are rich in isoflavones, a major group of phytoestrogens that have been hypothesized to reduce the risk of breast cancer,” said the authors.

“However, the estrogen-like effect of isoflavones and the potential interaction between isoflavones and tamoxifen have led to concern about soy food consumption among breast cancer patients,” they added.

Lead researcher Dr Xiao Ou Shu, of Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Nashville, Tenn., analyzed the data from the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study, a large, population-based study of 5,042 female breast cancer survivors in China and studied the association between soy isoflavone intake with breast cancer recurrence and survival.

The team found that patients in the group with the highest intake of soy protein had a 29 percent lower risk of death during the study period, and a 32 percent lower risk of breast cancer recurrence compared to patients with the lowest intake of soy protein.

The adjusted 4-year mortality rates were 10.3 percent and 7.4 percent and the 4-year recurrence rates were 11.2 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively, for women with the lowest and highest groups of soy protein intake.

“The inverse association was evident among women with either estrogen receptor–positive or –negative breast cancer and was present in both users and nonusers of tamoxifen,” the researchers added.

The study appears in Journal of American Medical Association.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Soy-food-lowers-breast-cancer-death-risk/articleshow/5318084.cms

These are some of the newest ways of storing power, says Stanford University researcher Yi Cui, assisitant professor of material science and engineering.

Stanford scientists are harnessing nanotechnology to quickly produce ultra-lightweight, bendable batteries and supercapacitors in the form of everyday paper.

Post doctoral students in the lab of Yi Cui, light up a diode from a battery made from treated paper, similar to what you would find in a copy machine.

The paper batteries are treated with a nanotube ink, baked and folded into electrical generating sources.

Simply coating a sheet of paper with ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires makes a highly conductive storage device, said Yi Cui.

“Society really needs a low-cost, high-performance energy storage device, such as batteries and simple supercapacitors,” a Stanford statement quoted him as saying.

Like batteries, capacitors hold an electric charge, but for a shorter period of time. However, capacitors can store and discharge electricity much more rapidly than a battery.

Cui’s work was published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news585914.html

From next year, workers in this category will need to have 12 months experience instead of six months as at present with their employer before they can be transferred to the UK, official sources said.

The immigration category will be closed as a route to permanent settlement in the UK.

This means that IT professionals who come to the UK under inter-company transfer will not be allowed to settle here permanently even after the mandatory stay of five years.

Immigration officials also denied reports that the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category of the points-based system was providing a loophole for Indian IT companies to bring foreign workers into the UK.

Under an intra-company transfer, an employer can fill vacancies in its UK operations by bringing across some of its existing foreign-based staff.

It has been claimed that this enables jobs in the IT and other sectors to be taken by migrants who are paid less than resident workers.

The Home Office, however, said that this was not true. “Workers coming to the UK in the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category must be paid the going rate”, it said.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/news/diaspora/tighter_visa_rules_for_uk-bound_indian_it_workers.php

The draft leaked and was first published by the British newspaper The Guardian.

The document says global emissions will peak by the end of the next decade, but does not include any emissions targets for 2020 or specific proposals for the creation of a green fund to help the poorest countries.

The Denmark draft also says control of climate change finance would be passed to the World Bank.

Draft pro-rich

Developing countries say the document is the work of rich nations who wanted to abandon the existing Kyoto Protocol’s principle of only industrialised nations taking on emission targets due to their historical responsibility for climate change.

The developing nations are up in arms against these plans of the Denmark draft:

* Specific emission cuts for developing countries
* ‘Most vulnerable’ category among developing countries
* Developing countries can emit not more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050
* Rich countries can emit 2.67 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050

It also sees everything coming under a single new deal, whereas an alternative text from developing countries wants an extension to the Kyoto Protocol.

Sticking points

Here are the sticking points in the leaked Danish proposal, the documents show that at the broadest level, developed and developing worlds are split on three key points:

* Level of cuts from rich countries
* Target date by which global emissions should peak
* Final shape of any future deal

(Read: Sticking points at Copenhagen)

The draft prepared by India, China, South Africa and Brazil sees emission reductions from developed countries coming under the Kyoto Protocol, but the Danish draft sees all of this coming under one single new agreement.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/climate_summit_uproar_over_leaked_copenhagen_draft.php

Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy adjourned the House thrice, the third time for the day, as the TRS legislators stuck to their demand that the House pass a resolution or immediately take up discussion on the issue.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) backed the TRS demand. The Congress government, however, said the debate would be taken up on Friday.

The House was stalled as 10 legislators of TRS continued raising slogans of “Jai Telangana” and sat near the speaker’s podium.

Earlier, Chief Minister K Rosaiah said the issue was under the consideration of the central government. “It is a sensitive issue. The government has to act responsibly. We can’t table a resolution like that,” he told the legislators.

The Chief Minister and the Speaker, on behalf of the House, also appealed to the TRS president, known as KCR, to end the fast.

“KCR’s health is important for the state. We appeal to him to call off the fast,” the speaker said.

N Chandrababu Naidu, president of the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), also appealed to KCR to end the fast. The leader of opposition said his party would support the resolution on separate Telangana.

After the house was adjourned for the day, TRS legislators staged a sit-in in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the assembly premises. They were supported by the BJP, the CPI and the Praja Rajyam Party.

TRS legislator Harish Rao said parliament was debating the Telangana issue but it was unfortunate that the debate was not being allowed in the state assembly.

He warned the government against suppressing the Telangana agitation saying this would have serious consequences. “How long will you suppress the sentiments of people,” he asked while referring to the arrests of students ahead of Thursday’s ‘chalo assembly’ programme.

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/telangana-storm-in-andhra-assembly-for-3rd-day/106771-37.html

Rao’s deteriorating health and the agitation for a separate state of Telangana also echoed in Parliament on Wednesday as both the Houses debated the issue with MPs urging him to break his fast and insisting that the Centre look into the matter urgently.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also spoke to MPs from Andhra Pradesh and expressed concern over KCR’s health

While Lok Sabha MPs asked Centre to intervene and resolve the Telangana tangle, in Rajya Sabha Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs forced an adjournment on the issue.

“We are very concerned about KCR’s health. I on behalf of every body would appeal to him that we are as concerned about Telangana but we are also concerned about his health,” said BJP MP and Leader of Opposition LK Advani.

*

Police hints at Maoist hand in Telangana row
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Do smaller states ensure better governance?
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In pics: Agitation for Telangana state

“Andhra situation is very explosive. Government should have taken note of it as it erupted,” said Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav.

Congress MP Jaipal Reddy also appealed to KCR to end his hunger strike.

Rao, popularly know as KCR, has been on hunger strike for the past 11 days demanding that a state of Telangana be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

Doctors attending KCR at the state-run Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad are trying to convince him to break his fast.

“He (KCR) is not cooperating. He is refusing anti-biotics and IV. He is conscious but very weak,” said a doctor attending KCR. He added that till now KCR’s vitals signs were stable.

A medical bulletin issued by NIMS said that though KCR was conscious and speaking, but he has been refusing to take medicines and antibiotics.

Doctors said that if he did not take food and medicines, his condition would start to deteriorate.

Meanwhile, police have begun a crackdown on protestors in Hyderabad and forcibly evicted students from Osmania University hostels in Hyderabad on Wednesday morning.

TRS protestors and students also clashed with police outside the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday morning.

There was an uproar in the Andhra Assembly on Telangana issue for the second day on Wednesday with Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy first adjourning the House for 15 minutes and then for the entire day.

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kcr-sinking-parliament-urges-him-to-break-fast/106767-37.html

The Sensex moved down by 116.86 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 17,110.82 points in early trade. The 30-share index had gained 244.54 points in previous trade.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 38 points to 5,109.95.

Brokers said weak trends on the Asian markets after overnight losses on the US stock markets triggered the selling by foreign funds. Profit-taking by retail investors also dampened the trading sentiment.

Heavy-weight Reliance Industries fell 0.51 per cent to Rs 1,074.75 on profit-taking after yesterday’s strong rally, while Reliance Infra shed 0.45 per cent to Rs 1,066.55.

Among other major losers, Infosys dipped by 0.54 per cent to Rs 2,427, Wipro by 0.52 per cent to Rs 644.25, Sterlite by 1.73 per cent to Rs 848, Tata Steel by 1.57 per cent to Rs 559.60 and Maruti Suzuki by 0.26 per cent to Rs 1,565.

State Bank of India was down 0.25 per cent at Rs 2,301.40, ICICI Bank by 0.92 per cent at Rs 864 and HDFC Bank by 0.21 per cent at Rs 1,826.

The Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.70 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.3 per cent in the morning trade.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1 per cent down in yesterday’s trade.

Source: http://www.samaylive.com/news/sensex-declines-by-117-points-in-early-trade/670096.html

shares in the German automaker, as the two firms form a formidable force in the auto industry.

Shares in Suzuki bucked a sharp fall in other Japanese auto stocks to end up 3.5 percent at 2,370 yen on Wednesday in Tokyo, a day after sources told Reuters of Volkswagen’s impending stake purchase.

“Two of the world’s leading carmakers are joining forces and preparing to meet the growing challenges that lie ahead,” Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said in a statement.

“Together we can maximise our opportunities for growth.” Winterkorn and Suzuki Chief Executive Osamu Suzuki will hold a news conference at 5 pm. in Tokyo (0800 GMT).

Suzuki will allocate 19.9 percent of itself to Volkswagen from its treasury stock.

Executives at Volkswagen, the world’s third-largest automaker, have publicly said over the past half year that Suzuki would be an interesting target given its expertise in small cars — a key segment to compete in emerging markets.

“Financially speaking, it’s helpful for Suzuki to have a partner to invest in future technologies,” said Chizuko Satsukawa, an autos analyst at Standard & Poor’s.

News of the Volkswagen-Suzuki alliance comes days after PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi Motors Corp said they were exploring deepening their ties, which have been limited to a project-based partnership so far.

Reports that the French carmaker could take a controlling stake in ailing Mitsubishi Motors have triggered the inevitable question of “who’s next”, as the industry faces fragile demand, chronic overcapacity and mounting pressure to join hands to tackle stricter environmental regulations.

Suzuki lost its equity ties to General Motors Co a year ago, having bought back the US automaker’s 20 percent stake in it, now worth about 257 billion yen ($2.9 billion).

Volkswagen, with its 10 brands including Audi, Skoda, Seat and now Porsche, has said it wanted to become the world’s No.1 automaker by 2018 — a goal it would reach with relative ease if Suzuki became a subsidiary.

In the first six months of 2009, Volkswagen sold 3.265 million vehicles and Suzuki sold 1.15 million. Their combined sales of 4.415 million units would be larger than top-ranked Toyota’s 3.564 million.

In contrast to a potential pair-up between PSA and Mitsubishi Motors, which many regard as a union of the weak, Volkswagen and Suzuki are both regarded as being amongst the strongest automakers thanks to their big exposure to the fast-growing markets of China and India, respectively.

The other Franco-Japanese alliance, between Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co, is stepping up its push to achieve bigger synergies after 10 years of partnership, considered one of the few success stories in the industry.

“This (Volkswagen-Suzuki negotiations) comes right after the Mitsubishi Motors deal and shows that foreign carmakers are coming to take stakes in Japanese firms, raising expectations of a reorganisation in the autos sector,” said Noritsugu Hirakawa, a strategist at Okasan Securities.

The bankruptcy of Chrysler this year was twinned with a link-up with Italy’s Fiat SpA, while Chinese automakers are looking to buy into brands on sale from General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co.

Still, Suzuki’s agreeing to join hands with Volkswagen comes as a surprise after its CEO had categorically denied any talks as recently as November. Analysts said the move could benefit Suzuki by giving it cash and a partner to develop clean-car technology, where it lags, while giving Volkswagen a minicar platform, as well as a foothold in emerging markets such as India and Southeast Asia. “It is probably a good move for both parties,” said Koji Endo, an autos analyst at Advanced Research Japan.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/international-business/Suzuki-sells-199-stake-to-Volkswagen-for-25bn/articleshow/5318414.cms

The critics may be wondering about the future of Preity Zinta but the dimpled beauty says she does not bother as “only big stars get written off”.

“I have been here since ten years and there have been three times in my career that I have been written off. And it is just not me. It has happened with Mr Bachchan. They wrote off Shahrukh. They wrote off Aishwarya.

“I think only when you are a big star is that they write you off. That is one positive thing,” Preity told news agency in an interview.

The 34-year-old actress, whose last onscreen appearance was a cameo in Salman Khan starrer box office dud ‘Mr and Mrs Khanna’, has not enjoyed a “happening” year.

She was also seen in ‘Heroes’ which did not create any magic either. And for the major part of the year Preity was busy handling her IPL team ‘Kings Eleven Punjab’ which she co-owns with former boyfriend Ness Wadia.

“I don’t take my break from movies negatively. I had got involved with IPL and it was a very big investment for me.

“I was building a huge property for myself. But I miscalculated. I thought I could understand the business in 6 months. But that was not the case and 6 months became 18 months,” said the actress, who was in the city as the brand ambassador of Dabur Vatika hair oil.

So does she agree that 2009 has not been a fruitful year for her acting career, and pat comes the reply,” I also did Deepa Mehta’s ‘Heaven on Earth’ which won me best actress internationally which no commercial Bollywood actress has won.

So it makes me feel great.”

Preity, who won the Best Actress award at the 2008 Chicago International Film Festival for ‘Heaven on Earth’, is relieved that IPL is back in the country and so is she with her ‘Har Pal’, directed by National-Award winning directer Jahnu Barua which will see a unique chemistry between Preity and Shiney Ahuja.

“‘Har Pal’ is very contemporary. Everybody thinks that it is very serious and intense film. But it is not. It is very much fun and commercial,” the actress said.

The actress may have been out for long but is humbled that her filmmaker friends in the industry have welcomed her with open arms.

“I am very lucky to be working with filmmakers who always have supported me when I had no backing,” Preity said.

But her disappearance from films has surely been the talk of the tinsel town, “My friends in the industry tease me saying ‘Oh Preity has made too much money she is not interested in films now’,” Preity joked.

Source: http://www.samaylive.com/news/only-big-stars-get-written-off-preity-zinta/670121.html