17 policemen killed in Afghanistan ambush

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 Kabul: At least 17 policemen were killed and three others injured after militants ambushed a police convoy in Afghanistan's Helmand province, sources said on Saturday.

The ambush took place late Friday night in Konjak area of Musa Qala district after militants attacked a convoy of police forces from neighbouring Baghran district, a district security source told Xinhua news agency.

About 10 armed militants were killed and seven others injured during the clash, the source added.

Three police vehicles were destroyed and two vehicles were seized along with police weapons by fleeing militants following the clash, the source added.

Karipur incident: 50 CISF jawans transferred to Bengaluru

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 Kondotty (Malappuram): As many as 50 CISF jawans have been transferred in connection with the violence in Karipur international airport. An order transferring the army personnel to Bengaluru has been issued in this regard.

During the violence, equipment worth crores were damaged. Following this, the transfer order was issued.

A case has been registered againstCISF inspector Sitaram Choudhary in connection with the death of 44-year-old CISF jawan A.S. Yadav during the clash.

Also, a case has been registered against 25 CISF jawans directly involved in the attack.

19 killed in Uttar Pradesh road accident

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 Lucknow: At least 19 people, including eight children, were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Etah district on Saturday when a speeding truck hit two tractor-trollies full of people, police said.

The accident took place at National Highway 91 when the people were returning after attending a religious congregation in Puranv village.

An official told IANS that the victims included 11 women.

Irate villagers blocked traffic on the highway and pelted stones at police vehicles.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav condoled the loss of lives and announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs.2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs.50,000 each for those injured.

America's Doctor' Vivek Murthy gets Pride of Community Award

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  Washington: Dr Vivek Murthy, the Indian-American US surgeon general, also known as 'America's Doctor', has been presented with the Pride of the Community Award by the Hindu American Foundation, a Hindu advocacy group.

Accepting the award at HAF's annual Capitol Hill reception Tuesday, Murthy, son of Indian immigrant parents, said that he draws inspiration from the life of Swami Vivekananda.

HAF also honoured Senator Mark Kirk and House member Joe Crowley, with Friend of the Community awards at the reception attended by over a dozen lawmakers.

Anantanand Rambachan, professor of religion at St. Olaf College was presented with Dharma Seva award while Harpreet Singh Mokha of the Justice Department was given the Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of Pluralism.

Tulsi Gabbard, the only Hindu member of the US Congress, said it was a proud moment to see the continued progress made by HAF over a short period of time.

Daily antacid use ups heart attack risk: Study

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 Washington: Popping over-the-counter antacids daily to control acidity or heartburn can increase heart attack risk by 16-21 percent, a huge data-mining study led by an Indian-origin researcher has revealed.

The researchers analysed 16 million clinical documents of 2.9 million patients in two separate databases.

'People who take medication to suppress stomach acid are at greater risk of developing myocardial infarction, commonly known as heart attack,' said the lead researcher, Nigam H. Shah from Stanford University, California.

Drugs like Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid -- called proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are among the most prescribed drugs to treat a wide range of disorders, including gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD).

'By looking at data from people who were given these drugs primarily for acid reflux and had no prior history of heart disease, our data-mining pipeline signals an association with a higher rate of heart attacks.'

'Our results demonstrate that PPIs appear to be associated with elevated risk of heart attack in the general population,' he added.

The team along with scientists from Houston Methodist Hospital, however, found that H2 blockers - another type of antacid drug - showed no such association.

Examples of the drug of H2 blockers are cimetidine and ranitidine and brand examples of H2 blockers are Zantac and Tagamet.

'Our earlier work identified that the PPIs can adversely affect the endothelium, the Teflon-like lining of the blood vessels,' said John Cooke, a senior study author.

That observation led researchers to hypothesise that anyone taking PPIs may be at greater risk for heart attack.

The scrutiny of antacids has only increased with time. Initially, it was believed PPIs only posed a risk to a very narrow subset of patients -- those with coronary artery disease who were using the anti-platelet drug clopidogrel to prevent future heart attacks.

'Examiners originally assumed this was due to a drug interaction between these compounds and the FDA went so far as to release a warning about their concomitant use,' informed principal examiner Nicholas Leeper.

Our report raises concerns that these drugs -- which are available over the counter and are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world -- may not be as safe as we previously assumed,' the authors said.

In the future, the researchers say they hope to conduct a large, prospective, randomised trial to determine whether PPIs are harmful to a broader population of patients.

According to the study, an estimated 113 million prescriptions for the drugs are issued around the world each year.

The study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.

Saudi national held after bullet found in luggage

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 Kochi: A Saudi Arabian national was arrested today when a bullet was found in his baggage during check-in at Kochi international airport, police said.

Saud Salahi Al Ahmad was arrested after airport officials found him carrying the bullet in his luggage during check-in.

Salahi was to have boarded a Jeddah-bound AI flight at 4.55 PM, they said.

He had come to Kerala on May 30.

A case has been registered against him, they said. PTI

CCTV footage show CISF personnel vandalising airport property

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 Kozhikode: In a breach of security, a group of CISF personnel, apparently agitated over the death of a colleague in the violence at the Karipur airport here last night, went on the rampage and destroyed airport property.

CCTV visuals of the violence unleashed were aired today by television channels, which showed a group of 10 to 15 CISF
personnel, both in uniform and in plainclothes, smashing window panes stones and batons.

They pulled down an expensive painting from the wall, broke lights and window panes, creating mayhem after the news
of the death of jawan Jaipal Yadav spread.

In the unprecedented violence at the Karipur airport near here, a CISF jawan was killed and three others were injured
when a service revolver went off during a clash between CISF personnel and Fire force officers of AAI.

The footage showed a man, claimed to be a CISF official in mufti, directing his men to destroy the property around,
while another in uniform was seen smashing a windown pane by stamping it with his boot and baton.

Taking a serious view of the incident, Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the CCTV footage was being
examined and after that action will be taken.

Since last night, a special squad of Kerala police is camping at the airport, where the situation is now under control, he said.

Karipur airport was closed for over six hours since last night and became operational this morning. Meanwhile, two fire force officials of the AAI today denied the charge that they had tried to snatch the rifle from a CISF jawan, which led to the accidental firing leading to the death of one person.

Their statement was recorded by the state police. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy described the incident
as 'unfortunate'.

He said a meeting will be called to review the security system at state's airports to ensure such incidents do not recur.

Opposition leader in the assembly, V S Achuthanandan, slammed both the Centre and state governments for the breach
of security at the airport.

CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the shocking incident showed the collapse of law and order
situation in the state. The collector should have taken control of the situation, he said.

A high level meeting of AAI and Civil Aviation authorities will be held tomorrow to go into the incident and to take
further action against those responsible. PTI

Airport attack: ADGP report says no breach of security

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 Kozhikode: The violence unleashed at the Karipur airport resulting in the death of a CISF jawan cannot be termed as breach of security, according to the ADGP probe report. The report states that there was a clash between CISF personnel and Fire force officers of AAI. Nobody from outside had entered the airport.

The North Zone ADGP N Shankar Reddy said in his report that the clash between the employees present in the airport cannot be termed as security lapse. It was only after this, verbal fights and gun shots took place. Damages to the tune of Rs 2 crore were reported in the rampage where airport property too were damaged, the report said. DGP TP Senkumar was handed over the probe report

Bail for Salimraj in land grab case

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 Thiruvananthapuram: The Thiruvananthapuram CBI special court granted conditional bail to Salimraj, ex-gunman to the CM, and his 7 accomplices in the Kalamassery, Kadakampally land cheating case. They have been directed not to visit the capital city. The court also directed all of them to appear before the Kochi CBI office every week.

The Kadakampally case relates to grabbing 44.5 acres of prime land in Kadakampally village by quoting non-existent court decrees, fake revenue records and creating fake sales and partition deeds. Salim Raj had bribed and compelled the Kadakampally village officer and other revenue officials to forge documents, including false thandaper to illegally acquire the petitioner's 12.27 acres of land.

Kottayam vigilance court judge passes away

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 Kottayam: The Kottayam vigilance court judge E B Rajan (55) passed away here on Wednesday. The final rites will take place at Shanti Kavadam on Wednesday evening.