Vijayawada to be new capital of Andhra Pradesh

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HYDERABAD: Vijayawada will be the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced Thursday.

He told the assembly that the government has decided to "locate the capital at central place of the state around Vijayawada".

Naidu said the decision was taken in the state cabinet meeting Sep 1.

MHA asks IB to verify authenticity of al-Qaeda video

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NEW DELHI: The  Home Ministry today asked the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to verify the authenticity of an al- Qaeda video that threatens to take the terror outfit's campaign to India.

Ministry officials said the IB has been asked to send a report as early as possible giving details of the video, its authenticity and possible place of uploading.

The IB, which constantly monitors the activities of the terror outfit operating in the country and its neighbourhood, is expected to send the report within a day or two, officials said.

US media and intelligence agencies said today that al-Qaeda has established a new branch to wage jihad in India, revive its caliphate and impose sharia in the Indian sub-continent,
The creation of the group called "Qaedat al-Jihad in the Indian Subcontinent" was announced by As Sahab, al-Qaeda's official media outlet, in a lengthy video posted on social media outlets including You Tube.

Al-Qaeda is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but the group's leader Ayman al Zawahiri said "Qaedat al-Jihad" would take the fight to India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Zawahiri said the group will defend the "vulnerable in the Indian subcontinent, in Burma, Bangladesh, Assam, Gujarat, Ahmedabad, and Kashmir..." and "your brothers in Qaedat al-Jihad did not forget you and that they are doing what they can to rescue you from injustice, oppression, persecution, and suffering".

Eat fruits daily for healthy heart

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London: Daily fruit consumption cuts the overall risk of death by 32 percent and cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs) by up to 40 percent, a study shows.

Researchers found that compared to people who never ate fruit, those who ate fruit daily cut their CVD risks by 25-40 percent - around 15 percent for ischaemic heart disease (IHD), around 25 percent for ischaemic stroke and 40 percent for haemorrhagic stroke.

The findings came from a seven year follow up study of nearly 5,000,00 people living in ten different areas of China.

'The more fruit you eat the more your CVD risk goes down. It suggests that eating more fruit is beneficial compared to less or no fruit,' said lead researcher Dr Huaidong Du from Oxford University.

The researchers also found that people who consumed fruit more often had significantly lower blood pressure (BP).

'Patients with CVD and hypertension should also be encouraged to consume more fresh fruit,' Du noted.

The study was presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress, 2014 in Barcelona.

IANS

Naval chief to commission largest offshore patrol vessel

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New Delhi : Strengthening Navy's coastal surveillance capabilities, Admiral Robin Dhowan will commission its largest offshore patrol vessel INS Sumitra on Thursday in Chennai.

'The latest generation warship built by the state-owned Goa Shipyard Limited will join the Eastern Naval
Command fleetat Chennai for nation's maritime surveillance and coastal security,' a GSL press release said.

The INS Sumitra is the Indian Navy's largest offshore patrol vessel, the fourth in its class and built on in-house
design of GSL, the shipyard said.

The ship is fitted with most sophisticated weapons, guns,heavy calibre SRGM, rapid fire Russian AK630 guns, chaff
launchers Kavach, Electronic warfare system Sanket and various other electronic sensors.

'Significantly, all the equipment planned on the warshiphas been tried and fully operational. It is ready for
itsintentional role in war and peace. Further, ship has been built at fixed cost in scheduled time with no pending
liabilities by the PSU shipyard,' the GSL said.

The vessel can help meet Navy's requirement for undertaking ocean surveillance and surface warfare operations
in order to prevent infiltration and transgression of maritime sovereignty and is suitable for monitoring sea lanes of
communication, defence of offshore oil installations and other critical offshore national assets.

GSL chief Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital (Retd) said this delivery would take the shipyard's delivery account to 203 ships.

The first, second and third of the series of 105 meter class of NOPV - INS Saryu, Sunayna and Sumedha were earlier
handed over to the Navy by GSL. PTI

AMU convocation to honour distinguished Muslims

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Aligarh: The Aligarh Muslim University will honour distinguished Muslims at its convocation for which Emir of Sharjah, Sultan Bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, has been invited to deliver the convocation address.

The emir will also be the chief guest at the Sir Syed Day, it was decided at a meeting of varsity officials presided over by Vice Chancellor, Lt.Gen. (retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah.

The AMU will confer its D. Lit. degree, honoris causa, to Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, the director general, Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) and secretary general of the Federation of Universities of the Islamic World, Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil Parambath, managing director, VPS Healthcare, Abu Dhabi, and Nadeem Tarin, a distinguished AMU alumnus and general manager, Salman Al-Terais and Partners Ltd. Construction Company, Riyadh.

The annual convocation on Oct 16, a day before the commemorative meeting on the birth anniversary of varsity founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

IANS

Keralite wins prestigious US award

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Washington: India-born scientist Dr Thomas John Colacot has won the American Chemical Society's ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry, one of the top honours in the field.

Colacot, who studied at St Berchman's College, Changanacherry, Kerala and IIT, Chennai, is the first Indian to get the award in industrial chemistry. He also holds an MBA degree and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

The award is sponsored by the ACS Division of Business Development and Management and the ACS Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.

Currently Global R&D manager in the homogenous catalysis area at Johnson Matthey, a specialty chemicals company, Colacot directs research in US, UK and in Indian labs.

'The ACS is proud to recognize your outstanding contributions to the development and commercialization of ligands and precatalysts for metal-catalyzed organic synthesis, particularly cross-couplings, for industrial and academic use and applications,' a letter from Tom Barton, president of ACS noted.

The 2015 national awards recipients will be honoured at the awards ceremony in conjunction with the 249th ACS national meeting in Denver, Colorado in March next year.

Colacot had received Royal Society of Chemistry's RSC Applied Catalysis Award in 2012 for his contributions to the area of catalysis. His work on 'cross-coupling' is particularly acclaimed.

Colacot joined Johnson Matthey, USA in 1995 and started working in the area of palladium catalyzed cross-coupling.

The catalysts developed in his labs are currently used to make new drugs for Hepatitis C, a deadly disease with no cure, one pill per week for type II diabetics, and many hypertension drugs.

Colacot's work involves developing and commercializing ligands and catalysts for applications in metal-catalyzed synthetic organic chemistry.

His book on 'New Trends in Cross-Coupling: Theory and Applications' is scheduled to be published in October, 2014 by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

He is also PhD thesis examiner to many IITs and visiting faculty at Rutgers University.

Liquor policy: HC rejects bar owner's plea

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Kochi: The Kerala High Court, on Wednesday, rejected the plea submitted by the bar owners against the government's decision to close down the bars operating in the state.

The government had issued notices to 312 bars currently functioning in the state asking them to wind up their operations within 15 days. The bar owners wanted the court to stay this directive and issue an interim order.

The HC clarified that the government has issued the notices as per law.

The licences were renewed according to certain specified conditions. Hence, the licences issued to 312 bars were temporary, it pointed out.

Approving the liquor policy announced by the government, the HC directed the government to proceed further with it.

The court also rejected the petitioners' contention that the serving of notices was violation of rules as they were issued licences till March 31, 2015. 

Don't know clean Ganga plan will happen in our generation: SC to govt

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New Delhi:The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, asked the government not to give a bureaucratic answer about its plan to clean up the Ganga and instead unveil a stage-by-stage timeline for effective monitoring.

'Don't give us a vision plan. An artist's view. It may take 200 years to implement,' said a bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice R. Banumathi. 'We don't know if it (cleaning Ganga) will happen in our generation.'

'Can you indicate the stages through which this plan has to move and the time involved in each stage?' asked Justice Thakur as Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar started reading from a 29-page affidavit starting with the 1985 first Ganga Action Plan.

The court wanted to be enlightened by 'someone who has a comprehensive view of how Ganga would be made pollution free, nitty-gritty of the plan, and how the milestones can be achieved'.

The 2,525-km long Ganga, which originates in the Himalayas, is considered the holiest of rivers by Hindus.

Telling Kumar that the government had given a 'very bureaucratic answer' to its query, the court said it wanted to know how much will be achieved in the five years this government will be in office.

During the last hearing Aug 13, the court had sought the status report on the government's action plan to clean the Ganga along with a roadmap.

The court had also sought a report on what the government was doing to clean the river from Gangotri up to Haridwar in the first phase.

Justice Thakur observed: 'But for nature, it (Ganga) would have been worst. It is nature that is doing a lot of cleaning.'

The court told the solicitor general if polluting industries needed to be relocated, the court could assist the government with legal process.

IANS

Sensex, Nifty touch new highs, IT stocks rise

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MUMBAI: A benchmark index of Indian equities markets touched a new high of 27,225.85 points Wednesday before closing the trade at 27,139.94 points. The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) surpassed its previous high of 27,082.85 points of Tuesday. Volatility was seen in the trade around 2.30 p.m. when the markets fell nearly 125 points. It regained tractions and made gains of about 120 points before close. Healthy buying was observed in IT, metal, capital goods, technology, media and entertainment (TECK) and auto sectors. Selling pressure was seen in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and power stocks. The 30-scrip sensitive index, which opened at 27,128.06 points, closed the trade at 27,139.94 points (provisional), up 120.55 points or 0.45 percent from the previous day's close at 27,019.39 points. The Sensex touched a high of 27,225.85 points and a low of 27,067.02 points in trade so far. The S&P BSE IT index surged 253.06 points, metal index was higher by 144.77 points, capital goods index gained 144.77 points, TECK index rose 125.38 points amd automobile index moved up by 118.40 points. FMCG index dropped by 43.60 points and power index slipped by 1.17 points. The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also hit a record high at 8,141.90 and closed the was trade at 31.55 points or 0.39 percent up at 8,114.60 points. Nifty Tuesday hit a record high of 8,101.95 points.

India to sign free trade agreement with Asean soon: Kher

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NEW DELHI: India today said it has received the free trade agreements on services and investments with ASEAN and it will "shortly" sign the pact.

Signing of the two pacts - FTA in services and investments - were scheduled during the India-ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting in Myanmar last week. But the meeting was postponed as Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not able to attend the meet due to domestic compulsions.

India and the 10-nation ASEAN had concluded the negotiations for FTA in services and investments in 2012.

"Unfortunately because the Minister has compelling engagements here, she could not attend the Ministerial meeting last week but we now have received the agreements on Services and Investments and the Minister would shortly sign them," Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said here at a function.

India has proposed circulation process for signing the pact with ASEAN.

Under the circulation process, each member will separately sign the agreement and it will become effective only after the last member signs the pact.

In December last year, the Union Cabinet had approved the free trade agreement between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Unlike in India, ASEAN members have to approach their respective Parliaments for ratification of such pacts.

The agreement, if implemented, will help boost movement of Indian professionals in the ASEAN region. It will also facilitate more investments in the services sector.

Trade between India and South East nations' bloc ASEAN stood at about USD 76 billion in 2012-13. Both sides aim to increase it to USD 100 billion by 2015.

The ASEAN members are: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam