Home Minister’s remarks on orphanages draw flak from IUML

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]

Malappuram: Muslim League, the second biggest ally in the UDF, has come out in protest against the propagation by certain quarters to paint bringing children from other state to the orphanages in Kerala as “human trafficking”.

In a press release issued on Saturday, Muslim League general secretary KPA Majeed said that the efforts to demean the functioning of orphanages were condemnable.

There is a conspiracy behind such propagations. The home department should withdraw all the actions taken against the concerned persons charging them for human trafficking, Majeed said.

“The orphanages in Kerala are functioning in the best manner. Children from other states seek admission here as the institutes there do not have sufficient physical facilities. It is cruelty that this has been portrayed as anti-national crime,” Majeed said adding that the conspiracy behind such propagations should be recognized.

“There are a lot of students from other states who studied in the orphanages here and attained heights in their career. That gives an inspiration to the parents of other children to send the kids to Kerala.”

The attempt to degrade the institutes that cater to the educational needs of such children should be full-stopped, Majeed added.

He, however, said that the officials of the orphanages should have made sure that the children were brought in with adequate documents.

  

SpaceX unveils capsule to ferry astronauts to space

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]

LOS ANGELES: A sleek, white gumdrop-shaped space capsule that aims to carry up to seven astronauts to the International Space Station and return to land anywhere on Earth was unveiled by SpaceX.

The Dragon V2, short for version two, is the first attempt by a private company to restore Americans' ability to send people to the orbiting space station in the wake of the space shuttle program's retirement in 2011.

"It's all around, I think, really a big leap forward in technology. It really takes things to the next level," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday.

SpaceX is competing with other companies -- including Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin -- to be the first commercial outfit to take astronauts to space, possibly as early as 2017.

Until then, the world's astronauts must rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft at a cost of $70 million per seat.

The Dragon V2 was shown for the first time at a jam-packed evening press conference in Hawthorne, California.

The shiny Dragon V2 sat on a white stage floor, as a scorched Dragon cargo capsule was suspended above, bearing the blackened markings of a capsule that had returned to Earth from orbit.

SpaceX's Dragon capsule in 2012 became the first private spacecraft to carry supplies to the ISS and back.

Since then, Orbital Sciences has followed with its Cygnus, a capsule shaped like a beer keg that can carry supplies to the space station but burns upon re-entry to Earth's atmosphere.

Musk said a key feature of the Dragon V2 is that it will be able to "land anywhere on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter."

The crew spacecraft will be able to use rocket propulsion and deploy legs to land, instead of using parachutes to make an ocean splash-landing the way the cargo capsule does.

t will however still have parachutes that it can use for a landing in case any engine problems are detected before touchdown on Earth.

The V2 also carries an improved heat shield and will be able to autonomously dock with the space station, instead of needing the space station's robotic arm to catch it and pull it in.

"That is a significant upgrade as well," Musk said.

Musk touted the reusability of the Dragon V2, allowing it to cut back on expensive space journeys.

"You can just reload propellant and then fly again. This is extremely important for revolutionizing access to space," Musk said.

"Because as long as we continue to throw away rockets and spacecraft, we will never have true access to space. It will always be incredibly expensive," he added.

"If aircraft were thrown away with each flight, nobody would be able to fly."

The Internet entrepreneur and billionaire co-founder of PayPal did not say when the Dragon V2's first test flight would take place.

Ever since the US space shuttle program ended in 2011, the world's astronauts have depended on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to reach the ISS, an orbiting outpost built and maintained by more than a dozen countries.

SpaceX, Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin have all received millions of dollars in NASA funds to help them develop next-generation spacecraft that will someday carry astronauts to space.

SpaceX has said its crew capsule may be able to reach the ISS with astronauts aboard by 2017.

Meanwhile, NASA says it is focusing on building a new deep space capsule that could take humans to Mars by the 2030s.

 

 

Five suspects in custody over India cousins gang-rape

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]

KATRA SHAHADATGUNJ: Five men have been arrested over the gang-rape and deaths of two girls found hanging from a mango tree in a northern Indian village, police said Saturday.

The discovery of the two cousins, aged 14 and 12, in the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday is the latest sexual violence case to have stirred national outrage.

"Rape on both the girls has been confirmed. The cause of their death was asphyxia," Budaun district police superintendent Atul Saxena told.

Saxena said preliminary cases had been filed against five men who were all being held in custody. Three are accused of rape while two policemen face charges of conniving with criminals and neglecting their duties. Two other men were also named in a police complaint filed by the victims´ families but their whereabouts were unknown, Saxena added.

The farming family of the two cousins from the lowest Dalit caste told police could have "saved" the girls but claimed they refused to help when they found they were from a lower caste.

"She was my everything, my world -- and now my world has come to an end," the grief-stricken father of one victim said. The alleged attackers were also from a higher caste.

There is a long history of women and girls from India´s lower castes -- especially those who belong to the Dalit caste who were previously known as "untouchables" -- of being sexually abused by people from higher castes.

Uttar Pradesh is deeply divided along caste lines.

"These policemen didn´t act for hours when they could have saved two young lives. Why is caste everything?" said the father, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Medical tests showed the victims had been sexually assaulted multiple times.

India toughened its laws on sex attacks in the wake of the December 2012 gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi which triggered nationwide protests, but the move has done little to stem the tide of sex attacks.

The father said his daughter and her cousin were attacked when they went to the fields to relieve themselves as there was no toilet in their house.

The father told his brother heard screams from the field where the girls had gone.

The brother got into a scuffle with five men, trying "to get them to leave the daughters who were being molested", but fled when they threatened to shoot him, the father said.

The family reported the crime to police who told villagers the girls were with an upper caste village man and would be back "in a couple of hours", the father said.

Then they got a call from a woman saying their daughters´ bodies were hanging from a tree.

"This was nothing but plain murder and (caste) conspiracy," he said.

Indian families forbids naming of the victims or their families.

"The cops were totally hand-in-glove in getting our daughters killed," said the father of the other victim.

Rights activists said the crimes highlighted Uttar Pradesh authorities were "not serious" about tackling sexual crime.

Amnesty International said lack of toilets across India forced women to answer the call of nature outside, "making them more vulnerable to violence.”

Five suspects in custody over India cousins gang-rape

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]

KATRA SHAHADATGUNJ: Five men have been arrested over the gang-rape and deaths of two girls found hanging from a mango tree in a northern Indian village, police said Saturday.

The discovery of the two cousins, aged 14 and 12, in the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday is the latest sexual violence case to have stirred national outrage.

"Rape on both the girls has been confirmed. The cause of their death was asphyxia," Budaun district police superintendent Atul Saxena told.

Saxena said preliminary cases had been filed against five men who were all being held in custody. Three are accused of rape while two policemen face charges of conniving with criminals and neglecting their duties. Two other men were also named in a police complaint filed by the victims´ families but their whereabouts were unknown, Saxena added.

The farming family of the two cousins from the lowest Dalit caste told police could have "saved" the girls but claimed they refused to help when they found they were from a lower caste.

"She was my everything, my world -- and now my world has come to an end," the grief-stricken father of one victim said. The alleged attackers were also from a higher caste.

There is a long history of women and girls from India´s lower castes -- especially those who belong to the Dalit caste who were previously known as "untouchables" -- of being sexually abused by people from higher castes.

Uttar Pradesh is deeply divided along caste lines.

"These policemen didn´t act for hours when they could have saved two young lives. Why is caste everything?" said the father, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Medical tests showed the victims had been sexually assaulted multiple times.

India toughened its laws on sex attacks in the wake of the December 2012 gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi which triggered nationwide protests, but the move has done little to stem the tide of sex attacks.

The father said his daughter and her cousin were attacked when they went to the fields to relieve themselves as there was no toilet in their house.

The father told his brother heard screams from the field where the girls had gone.

The brother got into a scuffle with five men, trying "to get them to leave the daughters who were being molested", but fled when they threatened to shoot him, the father said.

The family reported the crime to police who told villagers the girls were with an upper caste village man and would be back "in a couple of hours", the father said.

Then they got a call from a woman saying their daughters´ bodies were hanging from a tree.

"This was nothing but plain murder and (caste) conspiracy," he said.

Indian families forbids naming of the victims or their families.

"The cops were totally hand-in-glove in getting our daughters killed," said the father of the other victim.

Rights activists said the crimes highlighted Uttar Pradesh authorities were "not serious" about tackling sexual crime.

Amnesty International said lack of toilets across India forced women to answer the call of nature outside, "making them more vulnerable to violence.”

Singapore riot: Indian nationals withdraw judicial review plea

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]

Singapore: Four Indians, facing charges for their roles in Singapore's worst riot in four decades in December last year, have withdrawn their applications for judicial review proceedings against the government.

Three Indian nationals - Arun Kaliamurthy, Rajendran Mohan and Ravi Arun Vengatesh – had sought to quash certain conditions imposed on them pending their criminal trial related to the rioting.

The trio were required to report daily to the Immigration and Check Point Authority.

'Two separate judicial review proceedings against the Government, brought by individual charged in connection with the Little India's Riot, have been withdrawn by the individuals concerned,' Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said in a statement on Friday.

Their lawyer M Ravi told The Straits Times that his clients had 'gotten used to the conditions' and had decided to drop their applications as the trial dates were drawing near.

Ravi had the proceedings cancelled on May 7 on behalf of the three. It was slated to be heard by a High Court Judge on May 12. The High Court granted the application, with costs amounting to SGD3,000 (USD 2,392) to be paid by the three applicants.

Ravi had applied to withdraw another judicial review application of Rajendran Ranjan, who had wanted to quash the stern warning administered by the police and the order of removal made by the Controller of Immigration. Rajendran also wanted to have his work permit reinstated.

'A few months have passed and he (Rajnedran) has since continued with his life in India,' Ravi was quoted as saying.

The High Court has imposed a fine of SGD1,000 on Rajendran, which would be paid by his uncle Arumugam Sivanathan.

Arumugam had authorised the proceedings on behalf of Rajendran who was given a stern warning by the police for his alleged role in the December 8 riot in Little India, a precinct of Indian-origin businesses, eateries and pubs.

The Controller of Immigration assessed the situation and decided Rajendran's presence in Singapore was undesirable. His visit pass was cancelled as a result and he was deported from Singapore on December 20 last year.

Twenty-five Indians were charged for the riot in Little India. Cases against 15 are pending while others have been dealt with.

Some 400 migrant workers from South Asia were alleged to have been involved in the riots in which 54 Singaporean officers were injured and 23 emergency vehicles damaged. PTI

Jet-propelled car to fly at 880 km per hour!

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]

New York: Fasten your seat belts. A jet car that flies at 880 km per hour is being conceptualised that would fly you from New Delhi to Mumbai in less than two hours - and it may use a highway as a runway to take off!

The concept vehicle, named GF7, is the brainchild of California-based engineers Greg Brown and Dave Fawcett from Airboss Aerospace - a design and engineering firm primarily dedicated to the aerospace industry.

To begin with, the jet-propelled car will carry four passengers.

It will have a highway cruising speed of up to 160 km per hour and a turbine engine with 3,500 pounds of thrust.

This means it will be able to fly to 38,000 feet and hit the speed of 880 km per hour.

'You can save jet fuel by using the electric motor to drive to the runway and start the turbine engine when you need it,' Brown was quoted as saying in a Gizmag report.

'The turbine engine produces plenty of extra electrical capacity to charge the batteries,' he added.

The prototype is expected to be ready in four years. IANS

Smoking rates fall among Indian men, rise for women

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]

New Delhi: While smoking rates have fallen among Indian men, they have risen among women. A factor, doctors say, that can be attributed to rising cases of infertility and higher risk of cancer among Indian women these days.

A study published earlier this year in the British Medical Journal and which was earlier carried by the The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examined the prevalence of smoking and cigarette consumption in 187 countries between 1980 and 2012 and found that while cigarette smoking among Indian men has fallen from 33.8 percent in 1980 to 23 percent in 2012, it has risen from three percent to 3.2 percent among Indian women within the same time frame.

In absolute terms, the number of female smokers in India has more than doubled - from about 5.3 million to 12.2 million in that time frame.

Commenting on the trend, Nevin Kishore, consultant in Pulmonology at Max Hospital, said the changing lifestyles are leading to more women taking up smoking in the Indian scenario.

'The effects of smoking, like lung damage, do not show in a person who smokes about four-five cigarettes a day in the initial few years. Although tobacco does not discriminate on the basis of gender, women smokers are more at risk of infertility. They also face the risk of all kinds of cancer,' Kishore told IANS.

Agreed Sapna Nangia, oncologist at Apollo Hospital. 'There has been a rise in the number of women smoking cigarettes and there are two main reasons for it. The first is a carefully devised plan by the tobacco industry which has faced a lot of lawsuits in this regard in the west, and has therefore realised that instead of going on facing the difficulty of advertising their product there, it would be easier to encourage women in India and China to smoke under the pretext of making smoking a socially acceptable norm,' Nangia told IANS.

'If women in India and China started smoking in big numbers, the tobacco companies felt that they would no longer have to depend on the west. This, plus a mistaken notion that smoking denotes independence of women, has led to the numbers rising,' she added.

Nangia however stressed that the upward trend is only in the urban areas, because 'women in the rural areas have always consumed tobacco in high numbers'.

Kailashnath Gupta, pulmonologist at Columbia Asia Hospital, went on to say that the consumption rate of smokeless tobacco has also risen among women.

'Tobacco does not differentiate, but the effect of smoking on pregnant women and those in the reproductive age group of 22-40 can be detrimental to the foetus and on their fertility,' Gupta said.

He also said that while the overall number of smokers in India has increased, the percentage of smokers has come down 'since it's in relation to the size of our population. I also think that the younger generation today, those in the 20-25 age group, is smoking lesser than of the yesteryears,' Gupta added.

His words find resonance in the study which revealed that although the prevalence of cigarette smoking in India has dropped by over five percent over the last three decades, the number of smokers in India has risen from about 74.5 million in 1980 to 110.2 million in 2012.

However, as compared to 1980 when Indians used to smoke an average of 11.6 cigarettes a day, now they average 8.2 a day. The study used data from several multinational and national surveys, including the Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

India is the third largest producer of tobacco and the second largest consumer of tobacco products worldwide, the study said. A different study in 2012 further found that 42 percent of cancers in men and 18.3 percent cancers in women were related to tobacco consumption. Cardiovascular disease is also linked to it.

'The only way out of this health mess is for the government to implement the anti-tobacco laws more effectively. Increasing taxes, I feel, hardly discourages people, and it's only the government that benefits. Advertisements against tobacco usage like the ones in movie theatres is one of the best ways to make people aware and therefore discourage them,' Gupta said. IANS

. Rebels kidnap six officials in Philippines

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]
Manila: Suspected leftist rebels abducted six officials in Philippines, a military official said on Saturday.

The kidnapping allegedly perpetrated by New People's Army militants happened in Mindanao Friday, the official said.

The victims, sub-contractors of the department of environment and natural resources, were abducted by armed men when ther were conducting validation inspection of the town's compliance for the national reforestation programme, Xinhua quoted the official as saying. IANS

Kidnappers release Colombian police officer's daughter

________ A to Z kerala .......... [kvk]

Bogota: The kidnappers who grabbed the 10-year-old daughter of a Colombian police commander released the girl hours later, authorities said.

The daughter of Inspector Victor Cantoñi, police chief in Padilla town, was freed Thursday night in the community of Toribio.

Alejandra Cantoñi was picked up by members of the Indigenous Guard taking part in the search along with police and army units, Mayor of Guachene, Francisco Paz, told radio stations.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed the release of the minor on his Twitter account and said an investigation is under way to find the perpetrators, though the army and authorities attributed the kidnapping to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The minor was abducted by armed men Thursday morning at the entrance to Jorge Eliecer Gaitan School in Guachene.

The army blamed the kidnapping on a FARC guerrilla who goes by the alias of 'Mordisco'.

The FARC, concluded Wednesday a unilateral nine-day cease-fire it had declared so as not to disrupt the May 25 presidential election. In 2012, they had supposedly renounced kidnapping for ransom.

IANS

After worms in mid-day meal, court refuses to revive NGO's contract

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court, taking a stringent view of an incident of worms being found in a mid-day meal leading to illness of children in the capital, has refused to revive the contract given to an NGO which had supplied the cooked meals.

Justice Manmohan, passing the order, said: 'Since the presence of worms in the mid-day meal supplied by the NGO has been confirmed, this court is of the view that there is no patent error or illegality in the order passed by the government.'

The Delhi government Jan 4, 2103, cancelled the contract given to the People Welfare Society on account of contaminated supply of cooked meals to a government school here on Sep 5, 2011.

All students, who had taken the meal, had complained of stomachache and uneasiness as a consequence of which they were taken to hospital by the school for medical treatment. Eight students had suffered from food poisoning.

The city government, while cancelling the contract, said the NGO had a past history of supplying 'contaminated/unhygienic' mid-day meal as earlier also worms were found in the meals supplied by the society on July 18, 2011, and July 21, 2011, to another government school here.

After the incidents of illness of children due to the consumption of mid-day meals, FIRs were lodged against the NGOs which have been providing food in these schools, including the petitioner in the present case.

On the other hand, the NGO contended that the sample test report found the meal supplied by it to the school to be fit for human consumption and that the children had suffered only mild pain in their stomach.

It said though there were other instances where cockroaches and dead lizards were found in cooked food supplied by other NGOs, the government did not take any action against some of them.

In the recent order, the court said: 'This court is of the view that though it is correct that the report of Sri Ram Institute for Research states that the sample sent to it was fit for human consumption, yet it clearly states that the samples did not meet the requirement laid down for cooked meals.'

'A perusal of the paper book also reveals that the hospital where the eight students were admitted had opined that they suffered from food poisoning,' it added.

The court, however, clarified that the finding given by it in the case would not prejudice any of the parties during the criminal trial which is pending against the NGO. IANS