2015, മേയ് 24, ഞായറാഴ്‌ച

65-year-old is now mother of 17 children after giving birth to quadruplets

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A 65-year-old woman is now the mother of 17 children after giving birth to quadruplets.

Annegret Raunigk has added three boys and a girl to her huge brood after they were born prematurely on Tuesday in Berlin, German media reports.

The four new arrivals were delivered by cesarean section after 26 weeks, and are named Neeta, Dries, Bence and Fjonn according to RTL.

Her decision to conceive again was controversial, even within her own family.

Earlier this year her tenth child spoke out against her decision to have even more children.

Her son Velten Raunigk, 27, previously said: 'I don't think it is a good thing for mum to be having even more babies.'

The chemical industry executive spoke out a day after his mother appeared on television to speak about her decision to have the children after spending £15,000 on IVF treatment in Kiev, Ukraine.

Velten was the first of the clan to speak out against his mother.

He said that his youngest sister Leila, who turned ten earlier this year, is already bullied at school because of her 'grandma mum' and he and his siblings fear they will be left to bring up the quads if anything happens to his aging mother.

He said the family learned about her pregnancy after a family gathering earlier this year.

'I remember mum drank no wine and she seemed to be wearing extra-wide clothes,' he said. 'I had a feeling even before she told us.'

He said his youngest sister Auda, 22, broke the news to him.

He added: 'I learned she had gone abroad and was artificially inseminated and was expecting quadruplets.'

'My youngest sister Leila is ten,' he continued. 'I know she is bullied at school because her mum looks like her grandmum.

'How will that work with quadruplets?'

His father Ulrich died at 63 in 2008. He had nine children with Annegret, two others were born earlier and fathered by other men.

He went on: 'Shortly before the reunification of Germany my parents separated.

'He took the eldest five with him but he didn't stop caring for us others.'

Two other men sired the two other children which make up Annegret's enormous tribe.

But although Velten criticises his mother's decision, he said she has always played her motherhood role well, adding: 'Whenever we had problems she was always their for us.

'After the break with my father she flew us all off to Mallorca for a beach holdiday.

'The two weeks I spent there was the best experience of my childhood years.

'Despite disagreeing with her, if she needs help and support in the future, we will be there for her. Our family sticks together.'

Now the quads are born the German state will pay Annegret 988 euros a month, amounting to £712, for Leila and the others until they are 18.

2015Reports say IS killed around 400 Syrians in Unesco-listed city

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Damascus: Islamic State (IS) militants have killed about 400 people since they stormed the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria last Wednesday, media reported on Sunday.

Most of those killed in the millennia-old oasis city were women and children, Xinhua news agency reported citing the official Syrian TV.

Last Wednesday, the IS militants took full control of the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria.

Both the residential parts and the historic parts, which host 2,000-year-old monuments and temples, of Palmyra have fallen into the hands of the IS, according to a London-based monitoring group.

An airbase, a central prison and the intelligence headquarters are all in IS hands now, said the group.

The IS offensive against Palmyra started on May 13. The group has since captured the towns of Sukhneh and Amiriyeh and the al-Hail and Arak oilfields.

Mamoun Abdulkarim, general director of Syrian antiquities and museums, told Xinhua that government forces managed to transport all movable ancient items from Palmyra to safe areas.

Abdulkarim expressed grave concern over the fate of the old temples and monuments that cannot be moved.

Palmyra, a Unesco World Heritage site, contains monumental ruins of a city that was one of the most important cultural centres in ancient times.

IANS

Bar bribery case: Lie-detector test corroborates Ambili's claims

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Thiruvananthapuram: In a setback to Finance Minister K M Mani, the lie-detector test performed on Kerala Bar Hotels Association working president Biju Ramesh's driver Ambili corroborates his allegations against the minister.

The Forensic report was handed over to the court and subsequently it will be handed over to the Vigilance team probing the case.

In his statement, Ambili had said that he drove Bar hotel owners association president Rajkumar Unni and a few others to Mani's official residence, adding that he witnessed them handing over the money to the minister. The Vigilance wanted him to undergo polygraph test to confirm the statement.

Accordingly, investigating officer SP R Sukesan had served Ambili a notice asking him to present himself for the test. Last Monday, Ambili was put on the test at the State Forensic Sciences Laboratory here.

During the process held in presence of Ambili's lawyer R Rajesh, a team headed by Forensic Assistant Director Pradeep Saju asked Ambili 39 'yes or no' questions. The test commenced at 11 am lasted till 4 pm.

Ambili had earlier told the court he was willing to undergo the test. 

2015, മേയ് 21, വ്യാഴാഴ്‌ച

Now, dial STD without 0, +91

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New Delhi: As part of simplified dialing pattern, STD calls can now be made without dialing `0', `+91'. This is part of bringing in mobile number portability across the country. Previously, to make a STD call, one has to prefix `0' or `+91' before the number.

Google, Twitter sign deal to display unique and real-time tweets in web search results

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 Google and Twitter have announced a partnership to display tweets in search results, renewing a tieup that ended in 2011.

The move will allow Google to get more real-time results in its search queries, and help Twitter boost engagement after a period of sluggish user growth which has weighed on its stock price.

'We're excited to team up with Google to bring Twitter's unique, real-time content to Google's search results,' said Twitter vice president Jana Messerschmidt.

The deal will start with search results within the Google app and mobile Web, with a desktop version coming, said Messerschmidt, adding that the feature is due to reach more countries 'in the coming months.'

'For example, if you're interested in hearing more from Taylor Swift, a quick search on Google will pull up her most recent tweets,' she said in a blog post.

'Or, if you're a TV buff, a search for #Madmen will bring up the most relevant news and Tweets about Sunday's series finale.'

The two firms had a similar arrangement dating back to 2009, but tweets disappeared from Google search results in 2011.

'It's a great way to get real-time info when something is happening,' Google product manager Ardan Arac said in a separate post.

'And it's another way for organizations and people on Twitter to reach a global audience at the most relevant moments.'

Microsoft's Bing search engine has a similar function of integrating Twitter messages.

Danny Sullivan of the tech blog Search Engine Land said the deal calling for a graphical display of tweets may give Twitter more traffic, if not revenue.

'It's important to note that this is NOT tweets coming into Google for the first time, or the first time since the last formal deal ended,' he said in a blog post.

'Tweets have continued to be in Google since that last deal. The new deal just allows for more of (that) and with deeper integration.'

75,258 students qualify for engg, 85,829 for medical

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 Kochi: Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb announced the results of the Kerala Engineering Agriculture and Medical (KEAM) Entrance exams. 75,258 students have qualified for engineering admission and 85,829 students for medical admission.

Hiba P of Manjeri in Malappuram secured first rank in Medical Entrance Examination. Marium Raphi of Aluva in Ernakulam bagged the second rank while Ajeesh Sabu of Kollam bagged the third rank.

The rank list for engineering entrance will be published by June second week after taking into consideration the marks for Plus Two. A total of 1,11,109 candidates have appeared for engineering entrance examination

The results are available on www.cee-kerala.org as well as www.cee.kerala.gov.in

Kerala Higher Secondary pass percentage at 83.96 pc

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 Thiruvananthapuram: The results of Kerala Higher Secondary School Examination was announced here on Thursday by Education minister Abdu Rabb and the pass percentage was 83.96 percent.

Kozhikode tops in pass percentage among all districts with 87.05 percent and Pathanamthitta recorded the lowest pass percentage of 76.17 percent. As many as 10,839 students secured A+ in all subjects. 59 schools secured cent percent results. Girls secured a pass percentage of 83.34 percent and boys 77.78 percent.

In the VHSC category, 91.63 percent qualified for higher studies. In the Technical Higher Secondary section, the pass percentage was 78.67, in the Kalamandalam HS, the pass percentage was 90 percent and in open Higher Secondary 36.95 pc qualified for higher studies.

Double valuation has been done for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics since the marks of these subjects are taken into consideration for engineering admission.

For results log on to www.keralaresults.nic.in

2015, മേയ് 19, ചൊവ്വാഴ്ച

Declining mobility caused brittle bones in humans: Study

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 Washington: Rather than urbanisation or diet, rise of agriculture and fall in mobility has led to lighter, brittle bones among humans today, interesting research has found.

The study of the bones of hundreds of humans who lived during the past 33,000 years in Europe sheds light on a monumental change that has left modern humans susceptible to osteoporosis, a condition marked by brittle and thinning bones.

At the root of the finding is the knowledge that putting bones under the 'stress' of walking, lifting and running leads them to pack on more calcium and grow stronger.

Earlier humans had stronger bones and that weight-bearing exercise in modern humans prevents bone loss.

'By analysing many arm and leg bone samples from throughout that time span, we found that European humans' bones grew weaker gradually as they developed and adopted agriculture and settled down to a more sedentary lifestyle,' said Christopher Ruff from the Johns Hopkins University's school of medicine.

Modern lifestyles have famously made humans heavier, but, in one particular way, noticeably lighter weight than our hunter-gatherer ancestors: in the bones.

'The decline continued for thousands of years, suggesting that people had a very long transition from the start of agriculture to a completely settled lifestyle,' Ruff said.

Better bones are still achievable, at least for younger humans, if they recreate to some extent the lifestyle of their ancestors, notably doing a lot more walking than their peers, the authors said.

The paper appeared in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Light Metro: No PPP hybrid mode

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Thiruvananthapuram: The high-level meeting held under the aegis of chief minister Oommen Chandy dismissed the finance department directive on PPP hybrid mode for the light metro project in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. The project will be implemented with the participation of the centre and state along with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loan.

Chandy said after the meeting that E Sreedharan and DMRC would co-operate with the light metro project. The final decision will be taken in the cabinet meeting.

Chandy said the Cabinet would arrive at a final decision as it has to give its approval regarding the guidelines in seeking JICA loan.

The government was on a sticky wicket regarding the light metro as the finance department was advocating for a hybrid PPP mode while Sreedharan opted for turnkey consultancy.

Though Chandy held talks with E Sreedharan twice, the DMRC chief was not in a position to change its stand. Even in the meeting the chief minister had with Sreedharan on Monday morning, the later was firm on his stand. The expert panel decided to approve Sredharan's stand following this.

'It has now been decided to have this project in the public sector with 40 per cent of the project cost to be shared between the state and the centre, with the rest to come by way of loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency with very low rates of interest. Sreedharan, advisor to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, would be overseeing the project,' Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters here on Monday after a final meeting between Sreedharan and other state government officials.

Sreedharan opposed the PPP model asserting that it would be a heavy burden for the state. Ahead of this meeting when reporters caught up with Sreedharan, he said, 'everyone knows what my stand is'.

Various political parties including the Congress had said that ignoring Sreedharan's views would balloon into a major controversy.

Chandy, whose government is already facing numerous allegations of corruption, decided to go with Sreedharan's suggestion.

'The final decision would be made by the state cabinet later this month,' said Chandy.



Chandy praises Modi's help in evacuating Keralites

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Thiruvananthapuram: Politically he doesn't agree with the prime minister but Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is happy that Narendra Modi helped evacuate Keralites from troubled spots in the Middle East.

Asked to sum up one year of Modi's rule at the head of the union government, Chandy expressed appreciation for all the assistance provided by New Delhi vis-a-vis Keralites in Iraq, Libya and Yemen.

Chandy said that, in contrast to other opposition parties, that there were cordial centre-state relations with Modi at the helm.

'We will always speak about differences of opinion on issues. But the central government did help us when it came to evacuating our nurses from Iraq, Libya and Yemen,' the chief minster told IANS in a brief interview.

More than 1,000 Kerala nurses were flown out of the three countries starting from June last year after violence erupted in all three places, putting their lives in danger.

Chandy visited New Delhi a few times for this and interacted with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

The last of the Keralites returned in April this year. For this too, the central government sent additional aircraft as well as naval and two passenger ships to evacuate Indians from Yemen.

The chief minister also said the central government's decision on providing viability gap funding for the proposed Vizhinjam port had been appreciated in Kerala. This is the first time in India when New Delhi agreed to pump in about Rs.800 crore as viability gap funding for a port project.

But Chandy said there were other issues on which the Modi government could be faulted.

Citing an example, he said Modi's biggest campaign pledge during the Lok Sabha election was to bring down the prices of food and other essential commodities.

'One has to look at the international oil prices and see what's happening,' he said.

'Oil prices are climbing here, like never before. As everyone knows, the price of oil is directly linked to the increase in prices. Was he able to do anything on this front?'

Another major election promise by Modi related to the poor and farmers when he said that their lot would be transformed within a year, the Congress leader said. 'After a year, see what has happened.

'The poor have been let down badly. The farmer's plight is no better. In the name of development, he has forgotten the poor and the farmers and the biggest beneficiary of his plans are the big corporates,' said Chandy.

What about Modi's style of governance?

Chandy said the disbanding of the Planning Commission, which had existed since 1952, was baffling.

'A year later, it seems the government is groping in the dark about the new body (NITI Aayog) that has replaced the Commission. No one knows what's happening,' he said.

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