The Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that Sharif has “stepped down” despite having “serious reservations” about the judicial process.
Scientists have created a new compound inspired by the catchphrase “Bazinga” that is frequently uttered by Sheldon Cooper, a character on the popular TV series The Big Bang Theory.
The compound BaZnGa, made of barium (Ba), zinc (Zn) and gallium (Ga), forms a new, never-before-seen crystal structure.
However, BaZnGa did not have any other exciting features, scientists said. It behaves like other nonmagnetic quasicrystals, but has a different arrangement of atoms.
Its creation is part of scientists efforts to discover new materials and characterise them, said Paul Canfield, a professor at Iowa State University in the US.
The idea to create BaZnGa came when researchers saw a TV commercial for “The Big Bang Theory” which showed the word “Bazinga” as elements barium, zinc and gallium, ‘Live Science’ reported.
The researchers, who were already planning to study three-part compounds that contained barium and zinc, went ahead to create BaZnGa.
“Whenever you find a new structure, it gives you further information on how nature arranges atoms,” Canfield said.
Tue, 1 Aug 2017 : In a last minute decision, the government today extended the deadline for filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs) and linking Aadhaar with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of taxpayers.
While ITRs can now be filed by August 5, the Aadhaar-PAN linking can be done till August 31.
The government had made mandatory the linking of the two databases for filing ITRs from July, 1 this year.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a statement saying the dates have been extended on receipt of complaints from “some taxpayers” that they were unable to log on to the e-filing website of the Income Tax department.
There were also complaints that the assessees were unable to link Aadhaar with PAN because their names were mentioned differently in the database relating to the two documents, the CBDT, the policy making body of the IT department, said.
A senior tax department official said the decision was taken after a meeting of senior officers of the revenue department and CBDT was held in the finance ministry today to “ease out the panic situation”.
“For the purpose of e-filing return, it would be sufficient as of now to quote Aadhaar or acknowledgement number for having applied for Aadhaar in the e-filing website.
“The actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done subsequently, but any time before August 31, 2017,” the CBDT said.
It, however, cautioned that the returns (ITRs) will not be processed “until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN is done.” “In order to facilitate the e-filing of return, it is also decided to give extension of five days for e-filing of return. The return can be filed upto August 5,” it said.
The department, till yesterday, had maintained that no extension would be given as already over 2 crore returns have been received and no major glitches on the e-filing portal– http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/– had been detected.
“While technical snags have been removed already, the main reason for failure of people to log in (the efiling portal) is because of last minute rush and panic in which those who have already logged in want to continue for the entire period for fear of losing it,” it said.
The official twitter handle of the I-T department said the move to enhance the time limit for filing ITRs beyond today was made “in view of difficulties faced by taxpayers.” The department, this time, has also asked taxpayers to declare cash deposits made in bank accounts aggregating Rs 2 lakh or more, post demonetisation between November 9-December 30 last year, in the ITRs.
The ITRs to be filed by July 31 pertain to 2016-17 fiscal or assessment year 2017-18.
In one of the biggest drugs haul, an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ship seized 1,500 kgs of heroin valued at about Rs 3,500 crore from a merchant vessel off the Gujarat coast, a defence spokesperson said today.
Merchant vessel ‘Henry’ was intercepted and detained off the Gulf of Khambat along the Gujarat coast by ICG ship ‘Samudra Pavak,’ the coast guard said in a release today.
The vessel was intercepted at around 12:00 hrs yesterday.
“During initial inspection by the Coast Guard, approximately 1,500 kg of narcotics worth Rs 3,500 crore have been found onboard (ship ‘Henry’). This is the biggest catch of narcotics in the present times,” it said.
The intruder suspicious vessel, which was found to be registered in Panama, had eight crew members onboard and no cargo. It said it was headed to Bhavnagar for breaking at the Alang yard after being intercepted by the ICG ship in the Gulf of Khambat, which was denied by the Gujarat Maritime Board, the ICG said.
The vessel was today taken to Porbandar, and crew members were detained for interrogation in the presence of intelligence agencies, police, customs, enforcement, narcotics, and the navy, it said.
The development comes three days after the ICG was mobilised on intelligence input that an Iranian vessel Prince-II, carrying large amount of narcotics (heroin and chitta), was likely to enter Bhavnagar (Gulf of Khambat) or Jamnagar (Gulf of Kutch) in disguise, the release said.
Following this, the ICG intercepted and detained two cargo ships — Al-Amir and Noor-E-Shabir– on July 28 for questioning after their movement was found to be suspicious.
While they were being questioned, vessel ‘Henry’ was detected to be moving suspiciously in the Gulf of Khambat by ICG aircraft Dornier when it was “sanitising the sea area,” the ICG said.
New Delhi, Jul 31: The Congress today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks of eradicating corruption during his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programmes but has remained silent on the Panama Paper leaks.
Congress leader Pawan Khera asked Modi what action had been taken against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh over the Panama Papers issue, citing the case of Nawaz Sharif who quit as Pakistani prime minister.
“The prime minister speaks at length on corruption, but ignores Panama paper leaks. (Yesterday Congress vice- president) Rahul Gandhi mentioned about Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh’s son and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek.
“His (Abhishek) name appeared in the Panama papers, (but) what action have you taken in this regard,” Khera asked, suggesting that Modi should take cue from Pakistan on this.
The Supreme Court on July 28 disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.
The Congress leader said the BJP cannot keep “subverting democracy” and “yet come out holier than thou and talk about political integrity”.
He was referring to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumping the grand alliance in the state to come into the NDA fold, and the recent defections of Congress MLAs to BJP in Gujarat, ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls.
“Where is the money coming from in Gujarat? Our MLAs said they were offered money (to defect). We are not getting any answers to this in the prime minister’s Mann ki Baat,” he said.
Khera also attacked the prime minister for not doing enough to curb the menace of cow-vigilante groups and “those spreading hate”.
The Congress leader said Prime Minister’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ appears to be “disconnected” from ground realities as it has failed to address issues like unemployment and agraririan crisis.
In his radio programme today, Modi spoke on varied topics ranging from how the new tax reform GST has transformed the economy to extensive relief being provided to the flood-hit states.
“The prime minister’s speech was irrelevant as it did not touch the fundamental issues faced by the country. We did not get answers to several of our questions and it was completely disconnected with what people are thinking,” Khera said.
Beijing, Jul 30 : Chinese President Xi Jinping today said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has the confidence and capability to defeat all invading enemies as he inspected a massive military parade at the country’s largest military base to mark the 90th founding anniversary of the 2.3-million strong army.
Xi also said the PLA should strictly follow the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and “march to wherever the Party points to.”
“I firmly believe that our gallant military has both confidence and ability to defeat all invading enemies,” said Xi, who heads the Central Military Commission, which holds the overall command of the PLA – the world’s largest army.
While there was no reference in his speech to over a month-long India-China military standoff at Doklam in Sikkim section, his remarks came in the midst of shrill official media campaign and assertions by the Foreign and Defence Ministries here accusing Indian troops of trespassing into Chinese territory at Doklam.
Clad in camouflage military suit, 64-year-old Xi said the Chinese military has the confidence and ability to safeguard, national sovereignty, security and development interests.
“Our military has the confidence and ability to write a new chapter in building of strong military and make new contributions to towards realisation of the China dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and safeguarding world peace,” Xi said in his about 10-minute address – an event carried live on state television and radio.
Earlier, Xi inspected the military parade at China’s largest military base in Zhurihe in Inner Mongolia – the biggest parade since 2015 in which army and air force displayed some of the most modern weapons including a new tank which reportedly held exercises in the high-altitude along the Indian border.
The other weapons included long range nuclear and conventional missiles, the new J-15 – the new aircraft based carrier.
In his address, Xi asked the military to further improve its combativeness and modernise the national defence and armed forces. The Chinese military has the world s second largest defence budget of USD 152 billion next to the US military.
The PLA was founded on August 1, 1927 when the ruling CPC under the leadership of Mao Zedong carried on with his national liberation movement.
It is one of the rare national armies which still continues to function under the leadership of the CPC and not the Chinese government.
“Officers and soldiers, you must unswervingly stick to the fundamental principle and system of the Party’s absolute leadership over the army, always listen to and follow the Party’s orders, and march to wherever the Party points to,” said Xi, the general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.
PLA officers and soldiers should firmly adhere to the fundamental goal of serving the people wholeheartedly, and always stand together with the people, Xi said.
He also said China needs a strong army more than ever, urging the building of PLA into a world-class military force.
Enjoying peace is a bliss for the people while protecting peace is the responsibility of the people’s army, he said.
“The world is not all at peace, and peace must be safeguarded,” said Xi, who is expected to get a second five year term at the key meeting of the CPC later this year.
“Today, we are closer to the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than any other time in history, and we need to build a strong people’s military more than any other time in history,” he said.
He urged the PLA to fully implement the CPC’s thoughts on building a strong military, follow the path of strengthening the army with Chinese characteristics, strive for the CPC’s target on strengthening the PLA under the new circumstances, and build the heroic PLA into a world-class military.
About 12,000 troops took part in the parade in which 129 aircraft and 571 pieces of equipment were on display.
Dongfeng missiles which include short, long and medium rage of rockets, variety of armoury including light tanks, drones were also deployed.
Helicopter borne troops demonstrated in quick landing and taking combat positions.
The parade was held in the backdrop of over month long standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam in Sikkim section.
Besides Doklam, China is also concerned by the situation in North Korea and the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile by US in South Korea much to the opposition of the Beijing.
New Delhi, Jul 30 : Feeding or sheltering stray dogs in the common area of a private property can cause nuisance, the Delhi High Court has said, warning two south Delhi residents to ensure that the canines do not cause fear or discomfort to others.
A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli told the two respondents that they cannot be permitted to keep stray dogs in the common driveway of a private property which was jointly owned by others, if their neighbours did not approve.
The court also said in a recent order that the two cannot feed the dogs or chain them in the driveway.
The bench said it was the duty of the two “to ensure that the stray dogs do not cause any nuisance to the other residents within the same property and in the neighbourhood”.
The court noted that keeping stray dogs would “cause fear and discomfort” to others living or coming there “who are not accustomed to keeping pet dogs”.
“The nuisance caused by the conduct of respondent nos.3 and 4 (the two individual respondents) in sheltering the stray dogs in the common driveway in the present case is writ large from the photographs placed on record.
“To a person, who is not accustomed to keeping pet dogs, it also causes fear and discomfort to walk into a property where stray dogs are kept either chained or let loose,” it said.
The bench said it “rues the lack of civic sense and concern exhibited” by the two towards their fellow inhabitants in their immediate neighbourhood.
“Their concern for the stray dogs also appears to us to be superficial and lacks commitment. Otherwise, the dogs would not have been left in such unhygienic and filthy conditions, as appear from the photographs on record,” the bench said.
It directed them to “stop chaining, feeding or sheltering the stray dogs in the driveway of the aforesaid property. It shall also be the obligation of respondent nos.3 and 4 to ensure that the said dogs do not defecate in the driveway, and if they do so, it shall be their responsibility to clean up the same.”
It directed the Station House Officer of Malviya Nagar police station, under whose jurisdiction the property fell, to ensure strict compliance of this order.
The order came on the plea by one Om Prakash Saini, who jointly holds the property with the two respondents, claiming that keeping and feeding the stray dogs in the common driveway was “causing immense nuisance and harassment for the other residents”.
The court has listed the matter for further hearing on September 1.
The order comes in the backdrop of a January order of the Supreme Court which categorically said “stray dogs have a right to live.”
During that hearing, the apex court had reacted sharply when a submission was made that such canines should be completely eliminated across the country.
The apex court has been hearing a batch of petitions on issues relating to orders passed by various civic bodies on culling of stray dogs, especially in Kerala and Mumbai.
Earlier this month, the chairman and four members of the a Kerala municipality had apologised in the Supreme Court for the killing of stray dogs, despite its orders against culling.
The apex court bench had on May 8 issued notices to them and an NGO on a contempt petition over butchering of stray dogs, despite its orders against it.
Pune, Jul 28: Film buffs will soon be able to watch movies made by students of FTII here as part of their project work, including formative works of iconic directors and actors of Indian cinema.
The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) has a long list of prominent alumni, including filmmakers Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and actors Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi.
“The first batch of FTII started in the 1960s, so we have diploma films of our past students since its inception,” the institute’s director, Bhupendra Kainthola, said here.
“The diploma films, made by the students as a part of their final year project work, generally do not see the light of day. So we have decided to screen them for the public at our premises once in a week as all these diploma films are like a goldmine,” he said.
The public screening of these films is to begin on August 5.
The inaugural event will be attended FTII alumnus and veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha who, as a student of the institute, acted in his diploma film, titled “Angry Young Man”, Kainthola said.
Sinha’s diploma film would also be screened on the occasion, he said.
“People have been watching Sinha on the screen after he became an actor. But, it would be a treat for them to see their favourite actor in a film in which he acted when he was a student,” he said.
Similarly, the diploma films of several celebrities and artistes, who once learnt the various aspects of film making at the institute during their student life, will be screened for the public who can just walk in and watch these them for free, the institute director said.
He said there are over 500 diploma films made by former students gathering dust at the FTII and the process to restore them is underway.
Gajendra Chauhan, the former chairman of FTII, said it is a good initiative as people will get to see the works of their favourite artistes when they were students.
A proposal to screen the diploma films on Doordarshan is pending with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, he said.
Pune, Jul 29: Film buffs will soon be able to watch movies made by students of FTII here as part of their project work, including formative works of iconic directors and actors of Indian cinema.
The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) has a long list of prominent alumni, including filmmakers Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and actors Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi.
“The first batch of FTII started in the 1960s, so we have diploma films of our past students since its inception,” the institute’s director, Bhupendra Kainthola, said here.
“The diploma films, made by the students as a part of their final year project work, generally do not see the light of day. So we have decided to screen them for the public at our premises once in a week as all these diploma films are like a goldmine,” he said.
The public screening of these films is to begin on August 5.
The inaugural event will be attended FTII alumnus and veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha who, as a student of the institute, acted in his diploma film, titled “Angry Young Man”, Kainthola said.
Sinha’s diploma film would also be screened on the occasion, he said.
“People have been watching Sinha on the screen after he became an actor. But, it would be a treat for them to see their favourite actor in a film in which he acted when he was a student,” he said.
Similarly, the diploma films of several celebrities and artistes, who once learnt the various aspects of film making at the institute during their student life, will be screened for the public who can just walk in and watch these them for free, the institute director said.
He said there are over 500 diploma films made by former students gathering dust at the FTII and the process to restore them is underway.
Gajendra Chauhan, the former chairman of FTII, said it is a good initiative as people will get to see the works of their favourite artistes when they were students.
A proposal to screen the diploma films on Doordarshan is pending with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, he said.
New Delhi, Jul 28 : The government has got down to the job of framing the new telecom policy and a draft one should be ready by the end of December, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said.
“Working groups to draft the policy are being set up as we speak,” she said.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) last week kickstarted the consultation process by meeting operators, infrastructure providers, industry associations and standards bodies.
The department is in the middle of formulating a National Telecom Policy that will focus on areas such as Internet for all, next-generation technologies (like 5G and Internet of Things), skill development and security, among others.
DoT plans to go for a wide consultation and outreach before finalising the new policy and expects to have it in place by March 2018.
The new policy formulation comes at a time when the sector is saddled with financial difficulties. Revenue and profitability of both large and small operators have come under severe pressure after the entry of aggressive newcomer Reliance Jio and the subsequent free data and voice offerings.
The National Telecom Policy, 2012, had taken key steps such as full mobile number portability, liberalisation of spectrum, and allowing delinking of spectrum from licence, among others.
The department will soon write to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India seeking inputs for the new telecom policy, she added.
Lucknow, Jul 28: Terming the developments in Bihar as a “wrong signal for democracy”, BSP president Mayawati said today that misuse of power and official machinery by the BJP leadership posed a serious challenge to established democratic norms.
She claimed that the people of Bihar had been betrayed with state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar switching sides from the grand alliance to the NDA.
Misuse of power and government machinery by the senior leadership of the BJP for the lure of power is continuously posing a challenge to the democratic norms of the country, she said.
“The latest political developments in Bihar after Manipur and Goa clearly prove that future of democracy is at risk under the Narendra Modi government,” Mayawati alleged in a press release issued by her party here.
Terming JD (U) leader Kumar’s move of leaving the anti- BJP alliance and joining hand with the saffron party to form the government “as betraying the people of Bihar”, Mayawati said people had voted for the secular alliance defying the Modi wave.
This mandate should have been honoured, she said.
“Whatever has happened in Bihar after Manipur and Goa is the result of misuse of official machinery… To divert the people’s attention from wrong policies and corruption, the BJP has launched a drive to prove opposition leaders as corrupt which is most condemnable and dangerous for democracy,” she claimed.
New Delhi, Jul 27: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was on Wednesday pulled up by the Delhi High Court for causing hardship to students by not notifying on its site that re-evaluation was permissible in all subjects of class 12.
The court’s remarks came after it was told that the Board was reluctant to accept applications for re-evaluation after the high court on July 6 had directed CBSE to re-evaluate the answer sheets of all the subjects of all students who wrote the class 12 examination this year and were seeking re- evaluation.
The Board, in its defense, contended that the deadline for accepting applications was July 7, as per an earlier order of the high court, and added that re-evaluation cannot be an open-ended exercise.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, however, did not accept the CBSE’s argument and said, “Why did you not post our order online on your website? You gave the students only one-day’s time (on July 7) to apply for re-evaluation without even informing them about our decision (of July 6).”
The court also said that once it passed the July 6 order, the deadline no longer applied.
In its July 6 order the high court had said that “the relief (of re-evaluation) is not confined only to the petitioners before it and shall be admissible to all the similarly situated students who seek re-evaluation of their answer sheets”.
During the proceedings today, the court told the lawyers, appearing for some students whose answer sheets were not re- evaluated by the Board, to file an application and said it would pass appropriate orders thereafter.
The observations came during hearing of a plea filed by four students against the CBSE’s June 28 notice imposing certain conditions with regard to re-evaluation of answer sheets.
The high court had set aside the conditions that the right of applying for scrutiny was limited to 12 subjects only, with maximum 10 questions per subject and a revised mark sheet would be issued only if the marks increased by five or were reduced by one.
The marks of all four petitioner students saw substantial increase, their lawyers told the bench today which said to CBSE, “Have you looked at the disparity? 64 marks have become 93 (in one case). That is too much.”
When the Board said that in most cases the increase was of only one of two marks, the court remarked that “even one mark makes a lot of difference”.
The matter has now been fixed for further hearing on August 29.