Kerala to introduce digital textbooks in schools

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In a major initiative that may revolutionise the general education sector, Kerala is all set to introduce multi-media 'Digital Collaborative Textbooks' (DCT), the first of its kind in the country, in government schools.

This digital textbook will comprise information contributed by persons around the globe in audio or video formats, besides the scanned soft-copy of normal textbooks.

The state government has decided to launch the DCTs in government schools on an experimental basis from next academic year starting in June, A Shahjahan, Secretary, Department of General Education told PTI.

Students and teachers can access the DCTs with the support of tablets and e-learning centres set up at schools.

IT@School, under the state General Education Department, is planning to formally launch the 'digital collaborative textbooks' early next month.

'The digital collaborative textbooks is definitely a significant step in the education sector of the country. We are planning to formally launch the DCTs next month,' Shahjahan said.

A senior official of IT@School said Kerala is the first state to introduce this kind of multi-media textbooks.

'At the normal level, the DCTs are e-books in which ordinary textbooks are scanned and uploaded. But, a plethora of information, contributed by different people including experts in different subjects make them unique,' IT@School Executive Director K P Noufal told PTI.

He said over 3.7 million students and about more than two lakh teachers in the state-run schools are expected to benefit from the ambitious project.

The department was also ready to share digital textbook model with private schools also which follow state syllabus.

But, they should provide hardware and other supporting facilities to get the access, he said.

PTI

33 killed in Yemen suicide bombing

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Sanaa: A suspected Al Qaeda suicide bomber blew himself up Wednesday in Yemen's central province of Ibb, killing at least 33 people, security sources and medics told Xinhua.

'A suspected Al Qaeda bomber blew himself up among about 40 Houthi followers at a celebration ceremony at the Ibb cultural centre when he was waiting for security check,' a security officer at the scene told Xinhua by phone.

'Governor of Ibb province, Yahya Mohammed al-Eryani, who attended the ceremony, survived the attack,' he added.

This is the third bombing attack by the Al Qaeda against the Shia Houthi group this month.

On Dec 16, an Al Qaeda group launched a car bombing attack against a Houthi office in the central province of al-Bayda, killing 40 people, including 20 children.

On Dec 18, Al Qaeda militants carried out a suicide car bombing attack in the western port city of al-Hodayda, killing 18, most of them Houthi followers.

IANS

Plane wreckage at bottom of sea, bad weather hampers recovery

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Jakarta/Singapore : Searchers using sonar equipment today located the wreckage of the ill-fated AirAsia plane carrying 162 people at the bottom of the Java Sea off Indonesia, even as bad weather hampered the recovery of many bloated bodies seen floating around the crash site.

Searchers using sonar equipment have located wreckage from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 at the bottom of the Java Sea, an
Indonesian search and rescue official said.

At the moment, they still do not know if it is in one piece or broken up, the official was quoted as saying by CNN.

Nearly three days after the Airbus A320-200 went off the radar, its debris was found yesterday in the Karimata Strait
near Pangkalanbun, Central Kalimantan.

Divers were to be deployed to search for bodies and for the plane's 'black box' flight recorders but officials said
heavy rain, strong winds and waves of up to 3 metres had forced them to suspend the operation.

At least seven bodies have been retrieved from the sea till now. Three bodies, two female and one male, were
recovered yesterday while four more were pulled out today.

One of the bodies pulled out today was dressed in air stewardess uniform, said Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency Basarnas.

Many bodies were seen floating in the sea by the rescuers and efforts were being made to retrieve them, officials said.

'We are in a wait and see. Weather is bad currently. High tides and heavy rains. Every element is now in their position
ready to make a move when weather improves,' Soelistyo said.'As soon as the weather is clear, the bodies will be
brought to Pangkalan Bun,' he said.

Indonesian officials yesterday confirmed that remains and debris found in the waters off Borneo are from the AirAsia
plane that took off from Surabaya for Singapore.

Relatives of the 162 people on board the ill-fated plane hugged each other and burst into tears yesterday as they
watched television footage of bodies floating in the sea.

The plane was carrying 155 passengers -- one British, one Malaysian, one Singaporean, three South Koreans, 149
Indonesians -- and seven crew members -- six Indonesians and a French co-pilot.

Seventeen of the passengers were children. There were no Indian nationals on board.
The mystery still remains over why the plane lost contact with air traffic control and what happened afterwards.

Families of people aboard AirAsia plane have been briefed by officials that sonar technology has 'spotted the plane on
sea floor,' a relative of some of the passengers told CNN. PTI

Indian American charged with assaulting infant son

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Washington: An Indian American has been charged with causing brain damage and other life-threatening injuries to his four-month-old son, leaving him struggling for life in hospital.

Jagsheer Singh, 28, from Queens county faces first-degree assault and child endangerment charges for allegedly inflicting the life-threatening injuries on little Nevin Janduher, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

According to authorities, the baby was left in the care of Singh while his wife, Reena Malhotra, a radiologist, went to work at Long Island Jewish Medical Centre. Singh told his wife after she returned from work that he found the child having difficulty breathing.

Later, he admitted to the police that the boy had fallen off the changing table, but doctors found 'multiple severe skull fractures' that were not consistent with an accident.

'The baby is in grave condition and if he does not survive, the charges will be upgraded,' Queens district attorney Richard Brown was quoted as saying.

IANS

How lung cancer can be stopped from spreading

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London: To break loose and spread around the body, lung cancer cells first chop of the protein ties that bind them to other cells, new research shows, adding that targeting this flaw could help stop lung cancer from spreading.

'This research shows for the first time how lung cancer cells sever ties with their neighbours and start to spread around the body, by hijacking the cells' recycling process and sending it into overdrive,' said lead researcher Angeliki Malliri from Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute at University of Manchester.

Ties which bind cells together - controlled by a protein called TIAM1 - are chopped up when cell maintenance work goes wrong, the findings showed.

Healthy cells routinely scrap old cell parts so they can be broken down and used again. But this process spirals out of control in lung cancer cells, which scrap too many TIAM1 ties.

Targeting this recycling process could stop lung cancer from spreading by keeping the cells stuck firmly together.

'Early-stage research like this is essential to find treatments which could one day block cancer spread - which would be a game changer,' Nell Barrie from Cancer Research UK said.

The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.

IANS

Actor N L Balakrishnan no more

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Thiruvananthapuram: Noted actor and still photographer N L Balakrishnan passed away at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital around 11.30 pm on Thursday. He was 72.
Balakrishnan had been undergoing treatment for the last few months.

Narayanan Lakshmi Balakrishnan, known as N L Balakrishnan was born at Thiruvananthapuram in 1943. In a career spanning 52 years, he acted in 123 movies. Of them, his roles in Pattanaprevesam, Mookkilla Rajyath, Varnam were popular.

Balakrishnan, who completed diploma in painting from College of Fine Arts, Thiruvanathapuram, later switched over to still photography and also stepped into acting.

He served as still photographer in several moves directed by Adoor Goplakrishnan and Padmarajan.

Pope urges world to be open to God

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VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis ushered the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas on Wednesday, urging them to allow God to enter their lives to help combat darkness and corruption.

The 78-year-old Argentine pope led a solemn Christmas Eve Mass for thousands of people in St. Peter's Basilica. It is the second Christmas season for the pope, who was elected last year as the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years.

He has brought an air of simplicity to the Vatican, refusing many of the trappings of office, and has made plain his determination to reform the Vatican and bring the Church's hierarchy closer to rank-and-file Catholics.

In his homily, Francis, wearing white vestments, said Christmas is a time to remember that God's message of peace 'is stronger than darkness and corruption.'

'The question put to us simply by the infant's presence is, 'Do I allow God to love me?'' he said. 'Do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us ...?'

'How much the world needs tenderness today!' he said.

Hours before the service, the pope made a surprise telephone call to comfort Christian refugees in a camp in Ankawa, Iraq, who were about to celebrate their own Christmas Eve Mass.

'You are like Jesus on Christmas night. There was no room for him either, and he had to flee to Egypt later to save himself,' Pope Francis told them in the call arranged by the Italian Catholic television station Sat2000.

The refugees fled Islamic State fighters who have persecuted Shi'ite Muslims, Christians and others in Syria and Iraq who do not share the group's ideologies.

The pope has several times condemned the 'barbaric violence' of Islamic State fighters, most recently during his trip to Turkey last month.

On Thursday morning, the pope will deliver his traditional Christmas Day 'Urbi et Orbi' (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Square to tens of thousands of people.

The pope has a busy year ahead of him. He has a number of international trips planned, including to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January. He is also due to visit Africa, the United States and Latin America.

Next month Pope Francis is due to announce the names of a new batch of cardinals, the elite princes of the Church who are eligible to enter a secret conclave to elect a new pope after his death or resignation.

Another key project due to take shape in 2015 is the reform of the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.

In Christmas greetings on Monday to the Vatican's top administrators, Pope Francis delivered a stinging critique of Vatican bureaucracy and outlined 15 illnesses plaguing the Curia, including 'spiritual Alzheimer's'.

REUTERS

Oil prices down in Asian trade

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SINGAPORE: Oil prices edged lower in thin pre-holiday trade Wednesday, but analysts said losses were curbed by upbeat sentiment over a strong US economic growth report.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February delivery fell 34 cents to $56.78, while Brent crude for February eased 31 cents to $61.38 in mid-morning trade.

The US Commerce Department said Tuesday the world´s largest economy grew at a spectacular five percent for the third quarter, the best growth rate since 2003.

The figure beat the previous official estimate of 3.9 percent and the 4.3 percent projected by analysts, boosting hopes energy use in the world´s top consumer will rise.

Oil prices have fallen about 50 percent since June on mounting supplies due to increased production and lacklustre global economic growth.

Research house Capital Economics said the figures have fuelled expectations the US economy will grow 2.5 percent in 2014, with "growth of 3.0 percent in 2015 comfortably within reach".

"The clear strengthening in activity towards the end of 2014" could also prompt the US Federal Reserve to hike interest rates earlier than its timetabled mid-2015 date, the London-based firm said.

Interest rate adjustments are closely watched by crude investors as an increase could strengthen the dollar, making dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies, denting demand.

Analysts said trading during Asian hours will remain thin, with many dealers away during the holiday season.

There will be no afternoon trading for financial markets in Hong Kong and Australia on Wednesday. Markets in regional financial hubs, including Singapore and Hong Kong, will be closed Thursday for the Christmas holiday. (AFP)

 

Two arrested in Sydney counter-terrorism operation

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Sydney: As part of an ongoing counter-terrorism operation, the police have arrested two young men in Sydney, charging them with planning attacks in Australia and helping Australian jihadists to travel to Syria, local media reported Wednesday.

One of the men, aged 20, was charged with possession of documents designed to facilitate a terror attack and the other, aged 21, for breaching a control order, ABC television reported.

Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said the police had found no evidence of an imminent attack.

'Certainly the documents talked a little bit about potential government targets and so on,' he said, adding: 'There is nothing that indicates any specific targets or time frame in relation to this particular activity at all.'

The arrests took place after Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that the country would continue to be on alert for possible attacks following an increase in activity by alleged jihadis, according to intelligence agencies.

Abbott made this announcement after last week's siege of a popular Sydney cafe by an Iranian Muslim cleric who held 17 people hostage until he was killed in a police rescue operation.

Two hostages also died.

In September, the police arrested 15 people in Sydney and Brisbane in a huge counter-terrorism operation to foil plots to commit violent acts in Australia, including public beheadings.

In addition to the alert, the country has also adopted a plan of action to prevent citizens who have joined the ranks of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group from returning to Australia.

According to Canberra, there are some 70 Australians fighting alongside the IS and another 100 working actively in the country to provide logistic and recruitment support for the group.

IANS

Rs.25.03 cr sanctioned for Kozhikode Medical College

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New Delhi: The Centre has sanctioned Rs.25.03 crore to improve cancer treatment facilities at the Kozhikode medical college.

'The sate governmet had requested a total of Rs 44. 5 crore.This amount constitutes the first phase of assistance provided by the Centre in this regard,' said M K Raghavan MP.

With the fund, advanced cancer treatment equipment, including a High Energy Linear Accelerator costing Rs.17 crore, would be installed at the medical college.

The fund was sanctioned under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes Cardiovascular Diseases (NPCDC).

The state government would credit its share of Rs 8.34 crore to the programme. The state plans to install several medical equipment for chemotherapy and cancer, including Modular Operation Theatre, Fully-automated Cell Counter, Bio-chemical Analyser, CT scan simulater, SPECT Gamma Camera, Radiation treatment devices and vehicles with the sanctioned amount, said Raghavan.

Presently, majority of patients prefer Thiruvanathapuram Medical College to Kozhikode Medical College for advanced cancer treatment.