2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers at Thiruvananthapuram too

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Thiruvananthapuram: The Greenfield Stadium at Karyavattom will host two of India's 2018 FIFA World Cup football qualifyinground matches. This will be the first match hosted by the Greenfield Stadium which is built at an outlay of Rs 240 crore.

Rest of the two home matches will be played in Mumbai.

India has been included in Group D along with Asian stalwarts Iran and Oman. Turkmenistan and Guam are other contenders. India's first home match has been scheduled for June 11 against Oman. India will play Iran on September 8, Guam on November 12 and Turkmenistan on March 24, 2016.

This is the second time Kerala is hosting world cup qualifiers. In 2003, India had played Oman in Kochi and lost the match by 5 goals.

Three killed as bus overturns in Kozhikode

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KOZHIKODE: Three persons were killed after a bus carrying pilgrims collided with a lorry while they were returning from the Kollur Mookambika temple. The incident happened early Tuesday morning at 2.30 am at the Ramanattukara Airport Road Bypass Junction. The bus overturned after colliding with a goods lorry. The dead has been identified as Chandrasekharan (55), Anu (30), both from Nedukandam in Idukki and Jayalakshmy (11) of Ochira. The condition of one out of the 41 injured is stated to be serious. Eyewitnesses said the tourist bus proceeding to Idukki from Mookambika overturned after colliding with the lorry going to Kannur from Palakkad. In the impact, a woman slipped and fell out of the bus. The other two got stuck underneath the bus. The team left for Mookambika from Idukki on April 10th in two buses.

Congress MLA arrested for alleged links to countrywide car theft racket

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Guwahati: Assam Congress lawmaker Rumi Nath was today arrested in connection with her alleged links with a pan-India car theft racket.

'We have arrested her from the MLA hostel at around 7 AM. At present, she has been kept at Dispur Police Station. During the day, we'll produce her in court and seek police remand,' Assistant Commissioner of Police Suprotive Lal Barua said.

She was arrested in connection with her alleged 'links with a car theft gang' under sections 120(B), 420, 212 of the IPC, which stands for criminal conspiracy, cheating and harbouring offender, he said.

Yesterday, the Congress MLA had appeared before the press and said that she was not absconding.

'I am not absconding. I am innocent. Seeking anticipatory bail does not mean, I am guilty. If I am proved guilty, I am ready to go to prison', she had said at the press conference. Earlier, the Gauhati High Court had rejected her two anticipatory bail applications in connection with a case registered at Dispur police station and another at Azara police station.

She had filed for anticipatory bail on April 9 following the arrest of her estranged second husband Jacky Zakir.

Zakir was arrested on April 8 from his house in Badarpur in Karimganj district, while Nath's Personal Security Officer (PSO) Bedabrata Barpatra Gohain was caught from the Special Branch headquarters in the state capital.

During investigations, it was found that the alleged car theft gang leader Anil Chauhan, who was arrested by Guwahati Police and was wanted in a number of cases in Delhi and Mumbai besides other states, was issued Assam Assembly car passes on the recommendation of Nath.

Following this, the Assembly Secretariat issued a notice asking her to explain why she recommended issuance of car passes to the alleged car lifter, to which Nath responded by saying that she had signed the car pass application form of Chauhan's wife who is a Congress worker.

'I have no connection with Chauhan, but only know his wife who was also a Congress worker. This is just a political conspiracy to defame me... I have full faith in the law of the land and will cooperate with the police at every step,' Nath had said yesterday.

Assam Congress President Anjan Dutta too issued a showcause notice to Nath for her alleged involvement with the notorious car lifter.

The controversial MLA had married Zakir in 2012 by converting to Islam and without divorcing her first husband.

The duo was subsequently assaulted by a mob at a Karimganj hotel in July 2012. They parted ways last year and are living separately since then.

US Senate panel passes bill over n-deal with Iran

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 Washington: A Senate panel approved a bill demanding a congressional review of any nuclear deal the Obama administration inks with Iran by the end of June.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday voted 19-0 to pass an amended version of the bill, which will advance to the full Senate for a vote, Xinhua reported.

The new bill, while blocking President Barack Obama from lifting the sanctions on Iran during the review period, reduces the period to 52 days from the original 60 days, and allows the president to submit the accord after the June deadline for concluding the negotiations.

Obama, who has threatened to veto the draft bill, was willing to sign the new one, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.

'The president would be willing to sign the proposed compromise that is working its way through the committee today,' Earnest told reporters at a daily news briefing.

The US, Britain, China, France, Russia plus Germany are set to resume talks with Iran soon over a final deal after reaching a framework pact early this month, and the Obama administration has repeated opposition to any interference in the negotiations.

During his closed-door briefings on Capitol Hill Monday and on Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry urged lawmakers to give the administration more space to seal a deal with Iran.

House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday once again accused the Obama administration of pursuing a deal with Iran 'at any cost,' reiterating a call for congressional review of any agreement reached.

IANS

India's secularism is strong, it will not shake: Modi

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Berlin: India's secularism is strong and it will not shake, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address to the Indian community in Berlin.

Addressing a community reception hosted by the Indian ambassador, the prime minister said: 'India's secularism is not so weak that it will crumble. Our secularism is strong, and it will not shake; our self confidence should also not shake,' he said.

He also said that India will set the agenda for the climate change summit in Paris this year.

Modi said that Indians have always traditionally followed the principle of reuse and recycle, and never believed in wasting nature's resources. India worships mother nature, he said.

'Reuse and recycle -- we have been doing for years, but the world is using it now. But we never highlighted this aspect of ours, of reuse and recycle. Now the world is telling us to reuse and recycle. Those who damage the environment are today asking us to pay. They are asking us to reduce carbon emissions.'

'We are those who pay respect to environment, we call rivers mother, worhship trees, and nature, it is part of our culture, and we should go the world with this,' Modi said.

'We should stand with confidence, that we can show the world the way. We will set its agenda, I want to assure you. India will set the agenda for the climate change summit, and on the basis of our values; we are not those to take from world, but give,' he said to loud applause.

He also assured the diaspora that the country will always be there for them and maintain its ties with the diaspora.

At 65, Woman Pregnant With Quadruplets: Reports

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This photo taken on December 11, 2005 shows then 55-old Annegret Raunigk (1st row, 2ndL), posing with her youngest daugher Lelia (on her knees) and other children and grand-children in Cologne.(AFP)

A 65-year-old Berlin woman who already has 13 children is pregnant again with quadruplets, German media reported Sunday.

The Russian and English teacher's pregnancy follows several attempts abroad at artificial insemination over the last year and a half, German RTL broadcaster said.

The woman, Annegret Raunigk, decided to try to have another child because her youngest daughter, who is nine, wanted a little brother or sister, RTL said on its website.

The TV channel will broadcast an interview with the expectant mother, who has seven grandchildren, on Monday evening.

It said the pregnancy had so far been without any major complications and that if everything went well, the babies were due in the summer and that Raunigk would be the world's oldest mother of quadruplets.

Mass circulation newspaper Bild am Sonntag also reported the four-baby pregnancy, quoting the mum-to-be as saying the news had initially come as a shock.

'After the doctor discovered there were four, I had to give it some thought to begin with,' Bild quoted her as saying, adding however she had not considered it an option to reduce the number of embryos.

Asked about the moral implications, RTL quoted her as saying: 'I think, one must decide that for oneself.'

Bild also reported on Raunigk 10 years ago when she gave birth to her 13th child and quoted her at the time as saying she had only initially envisaged having one. AFP

High court seeks report from Andhra on deaths

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Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to submit a report in two days on the killing of 20 woodcutters by police in an alleged gun battle.

The court asked the government and the Director General of Police to submit the report, giving details of Tuesday's incident in Chittoor and also whether it followed the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court for the states to follow in case of such encounters.

The high court, which is serving both the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, gave the direction on a petition filed by a human rights activist, seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into what he said was a fake encounter.

Raghunath, the counsel for the petitioner, said the court asked the government to give details of the people who were killed.

The petitioner alleged that the labourers were murdered by the police in cold blood. He said the police fired to kill the innocent labourers. He pointed out that the police fired at their vital parts.

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1,723 Keralites reach home, many more left: K.C Joseph

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Thiruvananthapuram: A total of 1,723 Keralites have been brought back from Yemen following the fighting there but many more are yet to return, State Minister for Diaspora K.C.Joseph said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters here, he said two flights were leaving from Djibouti later Wednesday for India and another 600 Indians were waiting at the airport there to fly back.

"See, the biggest problem today is neither the Indian embassy there nor the centre or the state governments have any clue about the exact number of Keralites who remain in Yemen," he said.

"Today the points of exit in Yemen are Sana'a airport and three ports and the embassy has informed Keralites who are working in the interior parts to make arrangements to reach these places of exit."

"The biggest advantage is that both -- the Saudi authorities and the rebel forces -- there are showing consideration to our people and it is only with the help of these people that they can arrive at the places of exit," said Joseph.

The minister said due to operational issues, at times the flights that land in Mumbai do have a large number of Keralites.

"Yesterday (Tuesday) there were 300 Keralites waiting at the Mumbai airport who arrived from Yemen for their onward journey to Kerala. Due to constraints of seats, 66 of them were put on various flights that left for Kerala airport today."

"A total of 116 of them were put on two air conditioned coaches of a train, bound for Kerala. The rest of them are refusing to go to the Kerala House there and are protesting."

"See, we are doing our level best, tomorrow we have decided to hire a chartered flight to bring them and those who are arriving later in the day," added Joseph.

He said the government is sympathetic to the requests made by these people. But even after Chief Minister Oommen Chandy spoke to two central ministers to ensure that Mumbai bound flights are also sent to Kochi, at times it doesn't happen

"The train that left today had 150 seats, but only 116 of them opted to travel on the train," said Joseph.

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India brings back 1,000 home from Yemen, evacuation ending -

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File photo

New Delhi: India readied to wind up its massive evacuation operations in Yemen as 1,000 of its nationals were being flown home on Tuesday night. India also helped pull out 232 people from 26 countries from the strife-torn Gulf nation.

In a series of tweets, external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin announced: "We will end our air evacuation efforts from Sana'a tomorrow, 8th April. All who want to avail should leave tomorrow."

In more tweets, he announced: "A thousand coming back tonight to India, if all goes well. 5 flights planned from Djibouti to India carrying those evacuated from Yemen."

"232 persons from 26 countries evacuated by India from Yemen. Efforts continuing."

Evacuation efforts in Sana'a were successful with three Air India flights taking off from the Yemeni capital with 600 passengers.

The spokesperson also retweeted German envoy Michael Steiner's 'thank you' tweet: "India helped evacuate also Germans out of Yemen. Thank you India!"

He also said India has accepted "Pakistan's offer to fly back from Karachi by special plane 11 Indians evacuated by Pakistani naval ship from Yemen".

Rs.60 test detects early-stage prostate cancer

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WASHINGTON: A test that costs less than $1 (Rs.60) and yields results in minutes is more sensitive and exact than the current standard test for early-stage prostate cancer, US-based researchers say.   The simple test, developed by University of Central Florida scientist Qun "Treen" Huo, holds promise of early detection of one of the deadliest cancers among men.   It would also reduce the number of unnecessary and invasive biopsies stemming from the less precise prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test that is now being used.   "It is a simple test. It is much better than the test we have right now, which is the PSA and it is cost-effective," said co-author Inoel Rivera, urologic oncologist at Florida Hospital Cancer Institute.   When a cancerous tumour begins to develop, the body mobilises to produce antibodies.   Huo's test detects that immune response using gold nanoparticles about 10,000 times smaller than a freckle. Gold nanoparticles are known for their extraordinary efficiency at absorbing and scattering light.   When a few drops of blood serum from a finger prick are mixed with the gold nanoparticles, certain cancer biomarkers cling to the surface of the tiny particles, increasing their size and causing them to clump together.   Huo and her team developed a technique known as nanoparticle-enabled dynamic light scattering assay (NanoDLSay) to measure the size of the particles by analyzing the light they throw off.   That size reveals whether a patient has prostate cancer and how advanced it may be.   Although it uses gold, the test is cheap. A small bottle of nanoparticles suspended in water costs about $250 (Rs.15,000) and contains enough for about 2,500 tests.   "Because it is low-cost, we are hoping most people can have this test in their doctor's office. If we can catch this cancer in its early stages, the impact is going to be big," the authors noted.   After lung cancer, prostate cancer is the second-leading killer cancer among men.The results of the pilot studies were published in journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.