Monday, January 19, 2015

News around

​EU to appeal court's removal of Hamas from terror blacklist

The European Union is planning to appeal a December court decision to order the removal of Palestinian militant movement Hamas from its terror blacklist, EU spokeswoman Susanne Kiefer said on Twitter. “[The EU] Council has decided to appeal the judgment regarding Hamas remaining on the EU terrorist list,” she said.

Yemen’s president, Houthi rebels reach ceasefire deal after clashes

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has reached a ceasefire deal with Houthi rebels after hours of heavy clashes around the presidential palace, AP reported, citing the information minister. Nadia Sakkaf said Monday that Hadi will hold a meeting with representatives from the Houthis later in the day. Hadi was at his private residence, away from the gun battles earlier Monday in the capital, Sanaa, which Houthis seized in September.

5 killed by US drone strike in NW Pakistan

A US drone strike on Monday killed at least five militants in a Pakistani tribal region, security officials said. The strike targeted a Taliban compound in North Waziristan, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal districts that border Afghanistan, AFP reported. Islamabad launched a full-scale military offensive last year in the area, which has been a hub for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s.

35 Syrian soldiers killed in military plane crash – monitor

At least 35 soldiers have been killed after a military aircraft crashed in Syria’s Idlib province, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syrian media reported the crash but didn’t release a death toll. “A medium-sized cargo plane crashed last night while landing at the Abu al-Duhur military airport because of bad weather conditions and heavy fog, killing the crew on board,” the Sana state news agency said. The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front claimed that the plane was shot down by their fighters.

Pope Francis ends Asia tour

Pope Francis flew back to Rome on Monday after a week in Asia that saw him draw record crowds, AFP reported. He visited Sri Lanka and the Philippines on his second trip to Asia in five months to promote the Catholic Church in one of its most important growth regions. Six million people turned out in Manila as the pontiff celebrated Mass on Sunday - a world record for a papal gathering.

​Army, Houthi militants clash in Yemeni capital

Heavy gunfire has been reported in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. According to an eyewitness quoted by Reuters news agency, the fighting between the army and Houthi fighters took place near the presidential compound. Shooting could also be heard across the city. Sources told Al Arabiya TV that residents were injured in the clashes. On January 1, almost 50 people were killed and some 70 people were injured when a suicide bomber struck the cultural center of the city of Ibb in the country’s northwest during a Shia religious ceremony. The Houthi insurgent group, also known as the Partisans of God, demand more rights for the Zaydi Shi'ite Muslim sect. They seized Sanaa in Septmber and advanced into western and central territories of the country.

​80 kidnapped, 3 killed in Boko Haram attack in Cameroon

Boko Haram has killed at least three people and kidnapped around 80 others in a cross-border attack in northern Cameroon, Reuters quoted army and government officials as saying. The vast majority of those kidnapped are women and children. Cameroon soldiers intervened in a heavy fire exchange that lasted for about two hours. The assault was launched after neighboring Chad deployed troops to combat Boko Haram both in Cameroon and Nigeria.
AAP Mumbai';s RTI crusader brutally attacked with knives for taking on land mafia

Deendayal Rai (38) is an active member of the AAP, who is also a local RTI activist in Kurla (West). Today 18th Jan 2015 an attempt on his life was made at 1230 pm near his house by local goons connected to the land Mafia. It may be noted that Mr Rai had successfully taken on the local land mafia, who would collect rent from residents of the local hutments despite having no claim/ownership to the land on which these hutments stand. Two years ago, after learning that the local mafia, is working in collusion with officials from the local police station, Rai complained to the local DCP and got two constables suspended, subsequently the local residents stopped paying rent to the land mafia. The local residents named their local residents association after Rai as a token of appreciation. This angered the mafia who made an attempt on his life today using dangerous weapons like knives, choppers  and stones. Fortunately the assailants were unsuccessful  despite grievously hurting Rai. Rai is presently admitted in Sion hospital and AAP workers are in the process of filing the FIR & other legal requirements.

The AAP strongly condemns this attack which unfortunately brings to light the amount of pressure activists and members of the AAP face while taking on entrenched anti-social elements for their illegal activities.

It may also be pointed out that large number of RTI activists were killed and grievously wounded in the last few years across Maharashtra. The AAP hopes the new state government will take remedial measures at the earliest to protect the life & limb of RTI activists regardless of political affiliation and AAP members alike, so that civic minded individuals are not silenced or intimidated for taking on anti-social elements for their crimes. 

Pictures of the injured volunteer have been attached. (Ends)

Regards,

Media Cell,

AAP Maharashtra
कांग्रेस को बड़ा झटका, भाजपा में गईं कृष्‍णा तीरथ
 
21 जनवरी से सार्वजनिक क्षेत्र के बैंक कर्मचारी होंगे हड़ताल पर.
US drone attack kills six militants in Pakistan | Read more: |
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
cordially invites you to the Weekly Seminar


at 3.00 pm on Tuesday, 20th January, 2015
in the Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building

on

‘When Words will not do:
Sinhala Buddhist monks and the possibility of violence’

by

Prof. Pradeep Jeganathan,
Shiv Nadar University,
Noida.


Speaker:
Prof. Pradeep Jeganathan is Professor of Sociology at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR, India. Previously, he held faculty appointments at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, the New School for Social Research in New York, the International Centre for Ethnic Studies and the Post Graduate Institute of Archeological Research, at the University of Kelaniya, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  His research interests range from subaltern nationalism to the emergence of violence and the presence of loss, and the relationship between romantic love and bonds of kinship in lived world.  Books, authored or edited include Living With Death (2007), At the Water';s Edge (2004), Unmaking the Nation (1995|2009) and Subaltern Studies X1 (2001.) 

 

 #9 UBA All India Inter University Basketball Tournament for Men Day 6- Chennai teams through to finals
Gopalakrishnan R & Vishnu Ravi Shankar, Chennai, 16th January 2015: Playing with poise and purpose, hosts Sathyabama University, Chennai and South zone rivals University of Madras progressed to the finals of the UBA All India Inter University Basketball Tournament for Men 2014-15. In the process, west zone winners Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune and Jain University, Bengaluru’s creditable run at this year’s All India event came to an end.

Sathyabama cruises into finals

With homecourt advantage, South zone champs Sathyabama University were overwhelming favourites. From the get go, Sathyabama went on a tear, racking up 17 points in the first five minutes as against 11 for Pune. There were flickering moments of hope for Bharati Vidyapeeth throughout the first two quarters. Centre Aniket Jadhav was able to score from deep inside the paint, and hefty guard Akshay Bhosle belied his size to beat defenders to the basket and also score from outside. But at half time, Pune still trailed 48-61.

For Sathyabama, the balanced scoring that has marked its run throughout the South Zone and the league stages of these nationals continued to hold it in good stead. As many as six players scored in double digits out of which centre Prem Kumar showed his class with a double double of 32 points and 13 rebounds.
By the end of the third quarter, the Chennai team had built a lead in excess of 30 points while for Pune the gaping hole they had dug themselves in contributed to a number of turnovers (18 for the match as against 11 for Sathyabama). With Pune’s offense stagnant, Akshay Bhosle resorted to a number of contested threes, a whopping 26 attempts from beyond the arc, out of which he converted seven. Sathyabama’s post players were only too glad to grab the misses and lob them ahead to Muin Baig for easy transition buckets. The final score read 108-82.
Despite this win, Sathyabama will be concerned about the availability of small forward Muin Baig who suffered a knee injury late in the fourth quarter and had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair.

University of Madras, Chennai topples Jain University, Bengaluru

In a game of two halves, University of Madras beat Jain University, Bengaluru to go through to the finals and create a rematch of the South Zone finale against city rivals Sathyabama University, Chennai.

University of Madras, Chennai versus Jain University, Bengaluru promised to be a cracker of a contest from the start. Both teams have potential future stars in the form of forward Kaif Zia for Bengaluru and centre Jeevanatham for Madras. Apart from these two centre pieces, the sides also have top quality role players from positions 1 to 5. The sides are very familiar with each other, having played in the semifinal league stages in last week’s South Zone rounds. In that match, Madras had prevailed 102-77 over a depleted Jain outfit. But in this encounter, a full strength Jain unit had its offense clicking in the first half.

Jain University’s trademark fast break offense continued to be its key offensive strategy in these semi-finals. For Madras, centre Jeevanatham, who is also on the senior Tamil Nadu team, was the focal point on both ends of the floor. Jain’s shorter post players Michael John and Preetham Reddy worked hard to contain him but with little success. Jeevanatham overpowered the undersized Jain team and ended up with a double-double of 28 points and 13 rebounds. On the defensive end, his size altered many of Jain’s shots and he was a true rim protector in this game.

For Jain, senior Karnataka team player Visu Palani hit top form in the first half nailing his shots from deep. Point guard Vinoth controlled the tempo beautifully and Kaif Zia did enough to ensure Jain held a double digit lead midway through the second quarter. But it was only a matter of time before Madras fought back to come within two points of Jain. The high scoring first half had both teams scoring in excess of 60 points, with Jain leading 63-61 at halftime.

The reversal of fortunes continued in the third quarter with Madras taking the lead for the first time in the match. It seemed like Jain let their guard down a bit in the second half and the Madras team took full advantage. Led by point guard Anto Bethle (31 points) and swingman Karthickeyan S (35 points and 10 rebounds), University of Madras came out firing on all cylinders and never looked back. Crisp offense and tenacious defence resulted in University of Madras outscoring 73 to 42 in the second half. Vivek M also contributed for University of Madras with 23 points. Lack of bench strength hurt Jain in the second half. University of Madras went deep into their roster and they outran the tired looking Jain team. University of Madras ended up scoring a tournament-high 134 points to defeat Jain University and qualify for the final to be held tomorrow where they will face the other Chennai team, Sathyabama University.

Semifinal Results

Sathyabama University, Chennai (Prem Kumar 32 points 13 rebounds, Muin Bek 19 points, Arun Prashanth 17 points) btBharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune (Akshay Bhosle 30 points, Gautam Daddikar 23 points, Tejas Khivsare 13 points)108-82 (25-21, 36-27, 33-14, 14-20)
University of Madras, Chennai (Karthickeyan S 35 points 10 rebounds, Anto Bethle 31 points, Jeevanatham P 28 points 13 rebounds, Vivek M 23 points) bt Jain University, Bengaluru (Kaif Zia 34 points, Visu Palani 26 points, Vinoth 13 points) 134-105 (30-33, 31-30, 38-22, 37-20)

About the All India University Championships

The Association of Indian Universities (“AIU”) Annual Men’s National Basketball Championship Tournament is a large Pan-India basketball tournament.  The winning team is crowned the number one university basketball team in India.  The Tournament is structured similar to the NCAA Basketball tournament in the United States.  It is broken down into regional series which are held in each of four regions in India -- The South Zone, the North Zone, the East Zone, and the West Zone.  The teams in each region compete in regional tournaments, and the four winning teams from each region play in the final Tournament – The Inter Zonal Tournament.
The top four teams that have qualified from each of the four zones are as follows:

South Zone

  1. Sathyabama University, Chennai
  2. Madras University, Chennai
  3. Bharathiar University, Coimbatore
  4. Jain University, Bengaluru

North Zone

  1. Punjab University, Chandigarh
  2. Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
  3. University of Delhi, Delhi
  4. Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

East Zone

  1. Mahatma Gandhi Kasi Vidyapeeth University, Varanasi
  2. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur
  3. Burdwan University, Burdwan
  4. Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanshal University, Jaunpur

West Zone

  1. Bharati Vidya Peet University, Pune
  2. University of Rajasthan, Jaipur
  3. Savitribai Phule University, Pune
  4. Shivaji University, Kolhapur

About Universal Basketball Alliance of India (UBA)

The Universal Basketball Alliance of India, LLC (“UBA”) has acquired the broadcast, merchandise and sponsorship rights to the existing, and self-governing Indian University Basketball Program.  The UBA is currently securing television broadcasting arrangements, securing corporate sponsorships for tournament play, and creating merchandising opportunities. 
UBA will focus its attention on the AIU and popularizing its All India Inter Zonal Tournament as an entertainment product for Indian viewers to enjoy for generations to come, just as Collegiate Basketball is in the United States.

About Association of Indian Universities (AIU)

The idea of bringing together all the universities on a common platform emerged from the deliberations of a Conference of the Vice Chancellors of Universities convened by Lord Reading, the then Viceroy of India at Shimla in 1924. The Inter-University Board (IUB) of India was subsequently formed on March 23, 1925, with the view of promoting university activities, especially by way of sharing information and co-operation in the field of education, culture, sports and allied areas. The Inter-University Board acquired a legal status with its registration in 1967 as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. In 1973, it assumed its present name: The Association of Indian Universities (AIU). The membership includes traditional universities, open universities, professional universities, Institutes of National Importance and deemed-to-be universities. In addition, there is a provision of granting of Associate Membership to universities of neighbouring countries.

For media queries please contact:

Ekalavyas

 


New Delhi, 18th Jan 2015: ZEE with a motto of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” which means World is my family is proud to announce the 1st edition of “ZEE Cine-Lit Festival”. The festival is aimed not only to cater the movie goers who love the adaptation of books but to the ones who believe in watching quality cinema. Festival will showcase the movies like 2 States, 3 Idiots, The Fault in our Stars and many other movies which are being inspired from books. The festival will kick start from 21st Jan and will have 4 shows in a day till 25th Jan at INOX, Pink Square Mall, Raja Park, Jaipur.
Announcing the Zee Cine-Lit Festival, Mr. Roland Landers, Head Corporate Brand, ZEE, said, “We are delighted to bring to the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival audiences this Film Festival wherein we will show world class collection of movies which are inspired by great books. ZEE has always believed in recognizing talent and rewarding them through various means. This will give a platform to all the movie lovers to watch their favorite movies under one umbrella.
He also added “With every edition, the idea is to make the festival bigger and better. It will be hosted in other cities by next year. This will not only inspire the authors to come up with unique stories which can later be made into movies to reach a wider audience but also open up more windows for production houses to choose better scripts for adaptation.”
Not only this, movie buffs will get a chance to win some of their favorite books from Roli Books and also well-crafted bags from La Volsa everyday through the online contests starting from 20th Jan. Movie goers will also get special discounts at Pink Square Mall food court outlets after showing their tickets.
Movie to be shown in Zee Cine Lit Festival:

SR. NO.
MOVIES
1
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (ENGLISH)
2
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS ( ENGLISH)
3
3 IDIOTS (HINDI)
4
KAI PO CHE (HINDI)
5
7 KHOON MAAF (HINDI)
6
AAISHA (HINDI)
7
2 STATES (HINDI)
8
EDGE OF TOMMORROW (ENGLISH)
9
THE AVENGERS  (ENGLISH)
10
IRON MAN 3 (ENGLISH)
11
CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE FIRST AVENGER (ENGLISH)
12
THE GIVER

Unicode to Kruti dev  

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