J&K: Al-Badr terrorist Muzzafar Ahmed killed in encounter

Al-Badr terrorist Muzaffar Ahmed was killed in an encounter with Army and the Police in Machu area of Budgam district in Jammu and Kashmir, in the early hours of Friday. The militant killed in the anti-terrorist operation was earlier known to be associated with the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-taiba, as per the reports.

Want a Sharper Brain as You Age? Volunteer

People who are active in local community groups may have slightly sharper mental skills at the age of 50, a new study suggests. The findings were based on over 9,000 adults from the United Kingdom who’d been part of a long-term health study since they were children.

PTSD suspected in murders

Lionel Desmond was part of the 2nd battalion, of the Royal Canadian Regiment, based at CFB Gagetown and shown in this 2007 handout photo taken in Panjwai district in between patrol base Wilson and Masum Ghar in Afghanistan. A clearer picture is emerging of Desmond, the former soldier involved in an apparent murder-suicide in Nova Scotia, with his own words on social media revealing a man struggling with PTSD who was trying to get his life back.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Facebook-Trev Bungay A clearer picture is emerging of the former soldier involved in an apparent murder-suicide in Nova Scotia, with his own words on social media revealing a man struggling with PTSD who was trying to get his life back.

Fast radio burst tied to distant dwarf galaxy, and perhaps magnetar

Fast radio bursts, which flash for just a few milliseconds, created a stir among astronomers because they seemed to be coming from outside our galaxy, which means they would have to be very powerful to be seen from Earth, and because none of those first observed were ever seen again. A repeating burst was discovered in 2012, however, providing an opportunity for a team of researchers to repeatedly monitor its area of the sky with the Karl Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico, in hopes of pinpointing its location.

The Mystery of Part-Time Pulsars

A new discovery has upended the widely held view that all pulsars are orderly ticking clocks of the universe. A survey done at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has fortuitously discovered two extremely strange pulsars that undergo a “cosmic vanishing act.”

a A timeline of DRC’s chase for democracy

Power play: Violence erupted over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to hold elections and step down. Photo: Eduardo Soteras/AFP Hopes are high that a landmark power-sharing deal between Democratic Republic of Congo’s political opponents will bring an end to a crisis two years in the making.

Good Pacific birds news

A new year always brings new hope – but 2017 is a big one for conservation in the Pacific. The last big leap forward in 2015 was the restoration of the islands of Acteon and Gambier in French Polynesia.

Experiment in suicide zone

New Delhi, Jan. 5: Depression levels and suicidal thoughts declined across rural households in 30 villages in Vidarbha, India’s epicentre for farm suicides, after a mental health experiment that its proponents say illustrates a new measure to curb suicides in rural communities. The experiment, called the Vidarbha Stress and Health Programme and implemented in Maharashtra’s Amravati district, appeared to pull down the prevalence of suicidal thoughts from 5.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent in 18 months, researchers said yesterday.

Women protest at RBI

New Delhi, Jan. 5: Shouting slogans against Narendra Modi, a group of women today protested in front of the RBI here over its decision not to accept old currency notes despite the Prime Minister’s promise to citizens. The activists, under the banner of All India Democratic Women Association , targeted Modi for the RBI’s policy, saying it had brought suffering to countless people who could not deposit their notes in banks before December 30. Today, the protesters shouted slogans like ” Modi sharam karo “.

Ex-soldiers back Congress

New Delhi, Jan. 5: The majority of ex-servicemen associations have extended support to the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in five states, giving a fillip to the beleaguered party particularly in Punjab and Uttarakhand that have lakhs of families with serving and retired soldiers. Today, the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement announced its support to the Congress, days after the Indian Ex-Servicemen League, a 4-lakh strong organisation recognized by an act of Parliament, and the Sanjha Morcha of Punjab did so.

JNU Chairs for four languages

New Delhi, Jan. 5: Jawaharlal Nehru University is set to introduce Chairs in four Indian languages to carry out research on comparative literature reflecting the social milieu. The Centre of Indian Languages under the School of Language Literature and Culture Studies of JNU will set up Chairs on Odia, Malayalam, Punjabi and Telugu.

President tempers position on note ban

New Delhi, Jan. 5: President Pranab Mukherjee today seemed to be cautiously amending his position on the note recall, acknowledging a possible economic slowdown and miseries for the poor as some of its “temporary” outcomes. “Demonetisation, while immobilising black money and fighting corruption, may lead to a temporary slowdown of the economy.

Shipbuilder ASC sheds jobs in Adelaide

Adelaide shipbuilder ASC will shed more than 100 jobs by next month and South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon says it’s a “disgrace.” The government-owned shipbuilder revealed on Thursday that it will cut 130 shipbuilding jobs by the end of February as the Air Warfare Destroyer project winds down.

SA on track to victory

South Africa need six more wickets with two days still to play to win the second Test against Sri Lanka, who closed the third day at Newlands on Wednesday on 130 for four, still 377 runs behind the mammoth target set them. Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada both took two wickets in the Sri Lankan second innings as the home team closed in on victory and an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

Izmir blast caught on CCTV

CCTV footage from two different security cameras shows the moment of the explosion in Izmir, Turkey. Rough cut ROUGH CUT A police officer and court official were killed and 10 others were wounded an attack outside a Turkish courthouse, but authorities say the perpetrators planned something far worse.

Therapeutic Targeting of RNA Polymerase I With the Small-Molecule…

From the School of Basic Medicine, Shandong University, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China ; Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Remodeling and Function Research & The State and Shandong Province Joint Key Laboratory of Translational Cardiovascular Medicine, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China ; and Department of Cardiology, Qing Dao Central Hospital, Qing Dao, Shandong Province, China .

Labor planMcGowan’s billion-dollar gambleMark McGowan is gambling he…

Mark McGowan’s big gamble is that he will be able to spend the $1.2 billion the Federal Government has earmarked for the Perth Freight Link – the project he plans to cancel – on his own infrastructure priorities. He outlined the first of these this week, re-purposing a modest $236 million of the total $1.7 billion funding pot for upgrades to Armadale, North Lake and Wanneroo roads.

New Delhi: 239 Train Accidents in Last 12 Years: Why is Derailment Happening so Often?

A month and a half after more than 140 passengers died in a train mishap near Kanpur, the Ajmer-Sealdah Express derailed in the same district on Wednesday morning, causing injuries to over 60 passengers. From 2003 to 2015, 239 accidents have happened on the network of the Indian Railways and 208 of these — or 80% of all accidents — have happened because of derailments, says the parliamentary standing committee report presented last month.

Canada Stocks-TSX rises on resource gains, nearing all-time high

TORONTO, Jan 5 Canada’s main stock index on Thursday extended a rally that brought it near to an all-time high, as resource stocks rose with higher commodity prices and financial shares pushed higher. The most influential movers on the index included two of the world’s largest gold producers, with Barrick Gold jumping 5 percent to C$22.90 and Goldcorp Inc up 3.3 percent to C$19.63 as gold prices touched their highest in four weeks.

Exhibition by John Breakey

The show by a leading member of the Royal Ulster Academy is a mixture of oils, pastels, and lithographs, and date from 1960, when he was still studying at the Slade School of Art in London, through to some of his most recent paintings, completed in November 2016. John was born in Belfast in 1932 and showed a raw talent in art from an early age, studying first under the tuition of the renowned Irish painter, Charles Lamb , before enrolling in the Belfast College of Art in 1953.

Mentally-ill man to be sentenced after eleven attacks in town centre

A mentally-ill man who went on the rampage attacking nine people and two police officers in a town centre is due to be sentenced. Ross Greenwood, 27, of Byron Avenue, Alfreton, carried out the attacks on members of the public and two officers in Heanor and has also admitted exposing his genitals, stealing an electronic cigarette from one of his victims and damaging a door at Peacocks clothing store.

Azelis eyes African middle class with Ivory Coast investment

Ingredients specialist Azelis has set its sights on Africa’s growing middle class with a new import and distribution office in the Ivory Coast. The office, located in the country’s administrative capital, Abidjan, will initially focus on food and health ingredients but plans to expand into agriculture and horticulture.

Frigate assigned to escort Pattaya-Hua Hin ferry

The Royal Passenger Liner ferry leaves Pattaya for Hua Hin on Thursday on its delayed inaugural service, escorted by the frigate HTMS Kraburi. (Photo by Chaiyot Pupattanapong The navy has assigned the frigate HTMS Kraburi to protect the Pattaya-Hua Hin ferry, which made its first trip on Thursday after rough seas delayed the unofficial launch from Jan 1. The frigate was already deployed in the upper part of the Gulf of Thailand, the navy statement said.