WB Assembly Election: EC Issues Prohibitory Orders, Doubles Force

Kolkata: The fifth phase Assembly election, scheduled to be on April 30 comprising three districts of the state and 53 constituencies in a whole. Following the heavyweight candidates who will decide their fates tomorrow includes Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and four other ‘scam tainted’ leaders of the Trinamool Congress seen in the Narada sting video.

Following the fifth phase on the verge, all 53 constituencies in South Kolkata, Hooghly and South 24-Parganas had been imposed with prohibitory orders by the election commission. According to reports, the EC has ordered the central forces to start night patrolling in the sensitive areas from Wednesday while the number of central police was doubled to keep a close eye in the city and districts.

Section 144 of CrPC, which ‘regulates the assembly of five or more people in one place,’ will be enforced strictly in all the constituencies where polling will be held this time, said reports. Following their strict vigilance in the fourth phase, at Howrah and North 24 Parganas, the state missed any major violence. A senior poll panel official said: “Considering the sensitivity of some of the constituencies going to polls on Saturday, we have launched night patrol by central forces.”

Also, the fifth phase on Saturday will witness the second largest deployment of central forces-680 companies, 20 companies less than phase III. “They will also conduct patrols along rivers as there are some major rivers in South 24-Parganas and Hooghly. Borders have already been sealed and naka checking by both static and flying surveillance squads have been initiated,” a senior EC official said.

  

Scott Keach, Australian show jumper, will participate in Olympics after long 28 years

Rio Olympic will observe a new record s the Australian show jumper Scot Keach is all set to restart his performance after long 28 years in the Olympics. After six Olympics, Keach will return to games after he was being reported of his selection on Thursday for the ‘equestrian team in Rio.’

Reports are that Keach was named in the Australian Olympic Games, scheduled to happen from August 5 to 21, with a record of appearing in professional tournament for the longest time. The 51-year-old athlete is now a resident of Florida. Also, Keach is expected to improve his performances, who, last played in the Seoul Olympics and came up with fifth place in the team 23^rd in the individual event.

In an Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) press release, Keach said: “I remember the whole Olympic experience and I enjoyed it very much. I remember going to the opening ceremony and closing ceremony and things like that. We had good horses and riders on our team but in the end things didn't quite go our way.”

Keach has started his Olympic debut at 1988. A proud owner of his horse Fedor, said that he started planning two years ago. “Things started falling into place two years ago and that is when the Rio Olympics became a real focus,” he added.

Seventh Satellite NAVIC Completes ISRO’s Navigational System

Bengaluru: Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has launched its seventh and final satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Named as NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), the seventh satellite will work together to provide accurate navigation ‘including terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, mobile phone services, mapping and land surveying data, voice navigation for cars and disaster management,’ reports said.

After the satellite launching on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘hailed’ the initiative. He also took to Twitter to celebrate the ‘gift of science’: “We will determine our own paths powered by our technology with this successful launch. It’s a great gift to people.” He also announced the satellite to be named as NAVIC, according to sources.

The seventh satellite of IRNSS 1G, was launched into a sub geosynchronous transfer orbit with a perigree (nearest point to earth) of 284 km and an apogee (farthest point to earth) of 20,657 km. ISRO said that the satellite was launched on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which took off from the Sriharikota launch pad at 12.50 p.m.

ISRO also declared that with this launch of NAVIC, the process of IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is complete. The system will work in a similar manner of GPS, the global positioning system operated by the United States comprising 24 satellites. A nationally developed and tested, the 1420 crore project, as Dr TK Alex, former director of ISRO said will be able to provide two types of services- the Standard Positioning Services (SPS), available to all users and the Restricted Services (RS), meant for the intelligence and defense uses.  

In his speech after the satellite launch, PM Modi also asked neighboring countries to take part in the navigational system. In a video conference with the ISRO engineers, he asserted: “We have seven neighbors who rely on technology provided by other countries. They can use Indian services if they want.”

“We are now one of five countries with our own navigational system. Today we are free of dependence on other countries for navigation. Our planes will be able to land with ease and accuracy, we can plan disaster relief better and with our own technology,” PM said congratulating ISRO.

Men Threatened With ‘Breadwinner’ Status, Self-Harm Threatens

In a recent research conducted by the University of Oxford Centre for Suicide Research, said that due to a clash into the traditional gender roles, men are facing depression as they struggle to ‘fulfill the traditional breadwinner roles’. Following the gender collision, the study has found that self harm rates among men are rising and rising steadily from 2008.

In a traditional manner, men are always framed and ‘socialized’ to perform as a bread earner of the family and become successful financially. A deviation from the status, as the study noted, is likely to drive them into intense distress.

Study author Professor Keith Hawton said: “The problems that occur following economic downturn and may therefore increase the risk of suicidal behavior are multiple. They include fears of job loss, actual job loss, financial problems, impact on families and relationships, and, probably, increased use of alcohol.”

Also, Hawton added that because men are primarily related to responsible for their families, the impact of lower income and lower wedges is leading them to a dreadful decision- increasing the suicidal behavior in them. “However, the key place of work to the self-esteem of many men may mean that loss of work, or threatened loss of work, has a greater impact,” the study asserted.

With the pace of losing jobs and lack of qualification compared to fellow women, one out of seven men develops depression in every six months.

CM Holds Mega Rally, Attacks EC, Opposition

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led a massive election rally yesterday, on the last day of election campaign before the fifth phase of the Assembly Election. The rally, led by Trinamool Congress-Supremo Banerjee, started from Sukanta Setu in Jadavpur to Gariahat. Another rally was followed by this Maha Michil, from Beltala to Hazra that falls under her Bhowanipore constituency.

Banerjee had her last poll campaign on Thursday at the south Kolkata region that will go on polls on Saturday, April 30. South 24 Parganas and Hooghly will also cast their votes on the same date.  A total of 53 constituencies will go on polls in the fifth phase. TMC’s rally on Thrusday was a reply to chief opposition party CPIM that was conducted in the same area on April 19, as reports said.

Clad in her symbolic white cotton saree with a chappal, Banerjee was heard urging votes from the people of Kasba, Rashbehari, Tollygunge, Jadavpur and Sonarpur. “Don’t pay heed to slander and canards. They (the Opposition) have no work; therefore they are indulging in slander. Our thinking is positive and constructive which is evident from the all-round development that our government has done in Bengal,” she said during the rally.

According to reports, apart from bashing the Opposition parties, Banerjee used the huge rally as a tool to hit the Election Commission too. The CM asserted that EC had ‘taken some strong measures’ in the previous phases to prevent rigging in North 24 Parganas and Howrah and described it as ‘Delhi’s atrocities.’

 A strong note of displeasure in her voice for issuing Section 144 from a day before the fifth phase, Banerjee said: “Since they (Opposition) are scared that they can’t win, they asked them (EC) to impose curfew.” Reports are that the top TMC leaders like Firhad Hakim, Sovan Chatterjee and Subrata Mukherjee, who was seen taking money in the Narada sting video, were present in the front row of the rally. 

7.0-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Vanutu

Wellington: A strong earthquake of 7.0-magnitude stroke the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu early on Friday, but caused no damage. Reports are this is the fourth quake to rattle Vanutu this month, with no series problems post-quake.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey reports, there was no immediate report of death or injuries. The reports denied any threat of tsunami too after the quake hit the Malekula Island. Supported by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, any threat of destructive pacific wide tsunami has been canceled.

With 35 kms deep and an epicenter of 200 kms north-east of the Vanutu capital Port Vila, the strong quake emerged from the Pacific Ring of Fire. Reports are, as many as 245,000 people across the island may have felt the tremors. Almost 18,000 people have ‘perceived strong shaking.’

Latif’s Son Claims Father Shown in Bad Light, Moves to Court against Shah Rukh Khan

Ahmadabad: An Ahmadabad court on Thursday issued defamation notice against actors Shah Rukh Khan, Farhan Akhtar, director Rahul Dholakia and four others, claiming that the movie shows gangster Adul Latif in a negative avatar.

Latif’s son Mushtaq Shaikh asserted that SRK’s upcoming movie Raees, based on the gangster’s life, defamed him as it showed he was running a brothel and using women bootleggers, reports said. Khan is playing the lead role in this film.

According to reports, Ahmadabad city civil court judge R.T. Vatsani had issued the notice against Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited and co-producers Excel Entertainment and Rahul Dholakia Productions. Khan along with the others who has received the court order has to file their replies within May 11. Following the defamation notice, Mustaq also sought injunction against the release date and promotional material of Raees.

Following the complaint against the film and his actor, director and production house, advocate Harsh Gajjar said: “There were 97 cases lodged against Latif in his life time. These cases were for bootlegging and serious offences under TADA, however, at no point he ran a brother or used women for delivering liquor. By attributing such false claims in the movie trailer the respondents have defamed the family’s image in the society.”

According to reports, Raees will portray the story of Raees Khan, a goon who operated in the 1980’s Gujarat. With dozens of cases against the gangster who was a part of Dawood Ibrahim’s gang, Raees was shot dead by police while he was trying to escape from the Sabarmati jail. The film is scheduled to release on July 3, this year.

 

MEA Wrote UK to Deport Mallya

Mumbai: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday declared that it had written a letter to the British High Commission ‘seeking Mallya’s return under India’s anti-money laundering law.’ Reports are that the Indian government had asked Britain to ‘deport’ Vijay Mallya who is to repay as many as $1.4 million to the banks owed by his now defunct company Kingfisher Airlines.

In a later development of the notice, Mallya declared that ‘he is in forced exile’ and happy to be in UK. The United Breweries who flew to UK last month from Delhi also added that the Indian banks and government ‘are not getting any money by taking his passport or arresting him.’

Following charges against the former formula one boss, Mallya’s diplomatic passport was revoked last week. A parliament MP and liquor baron, Mallya is now subjected to non-bailable warrant issued by a special judge in Mumbai. Also, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has charged Mallya’s liquor company United Breweries for using Rs. 4.3 billion of bank loans to buy property at abroad.

 

WB Students to Get Board Results on May 10 and 16

Kolkata: West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) on Wednesday announced that the 10^th board examinations result, Madhyamik, will be declared on May 10. The Higher Secondary (HS), 12^th board examinations result will be out on May 16. The secondary education board administrator Kalyanmoy Ganguly said: “The results will be declared in the morning and students will get their mark sheets from schools in the afternoon.”

Also, State Higher Secondary Council President Mahua Das announced that the students would receive the mark sheets from school on the same day. The results will primarily be declared on board’s official website. All the details will be announced later at the day. The ISC and CBSE boards have not declared their result dates yet.

According to reports, both Madhyamik and HS started early this year. While Madhyamik started on February 1, 20 days earlier than normal, HS began on February 15, almost one month early than it normally starts.  

Following the result dates declared by the WBBSE, the entire focus is now on graduation admission in leading colleges and on the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). Students willing to apply for Presidency University can apply online by May 5 to sit in the entrance examination, university sources said. Students can upload their HS results on the university website after it gets declared.

Also, the JEE board, assuming the HS results to be declared within May 5, have scheduled their entrance examination accordingly. This year, the students have to produce their best four subject-scores to sit in entrance examinations.

Wimbledon Focus On Drug Tests; Declares Out-Of-Competition Checking of Players

London: The Wimbledon Championship 2016, ‘scarred by a string of recent scandals,’ has declared on Tuesday that they are set to introduce an out of competition drug test. Wimbledon authorities said that this is a step forward to fight against anti-doping among players participating in the tennis championship.

“Wimbledon had discussed its plans with the ITF and will focus its attention on out-of-competition testing,” said International Tennis Federation in an email. The ITF is a major body in the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADF) and funds the organization too. Reports are, apart from ITF being the major funding body; Wimbledon will also subsidize the anti-doping squad.

In a statement declaring the anti-doping program, Wimbledon said: “In addition to the TADP In-Competition testing, the AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club) will be implementing additional anti-doping measures for The Championships 2016.”

According to reports, an out of competition testing can be conducted any time of the year when the player is not performing into a tournament or league. Also, this is the best method, as considered by the sports-experts, to seize a doper.

The tennis anti-doping program, run by the ITF and is funded by the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, ITF and the four grand slams, including Wimbledon, said sources. However, players like Andy Murray have ‘called for vast increases’ in its funding requesting its transparency. With series of doping cases unveiled in the recent months, Russian five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova’s admission in the list has stirred the tennis world the most.

SC Asks Sahara to Furnish Property Details

New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a notice on Wednesday directing the Sahara group to ‘furnish details of all its properties in a sealed cover to ascertain the fact as to whether they are sufficient for paying back the entire amount to the investors,’ sources said.

The court also asked the jailed Sahara-supremo Subrata Roy to disclose all his property details by May 11 and issued to sell as many as 60 properties of the group. The property sale is to be conducted by HDFC Realty and SBI Capital Markets.

Reports are, in a similar case of Vijay Mallya who is supposed to be absconding and is guilty of money laundering cases; Roy will have to unveil all the property details, both in India and at abroad.

Sahara-shree Subrata Roy is at jail for the last two years when he was found guilty to pay almost Rs 20,000 crore to the Securities and Exchange Board of India scheduled to be returned to the investors of Sahara Investment Schemes. Roy failed to meet the Supreme Court’s order at 2012 was followed by his jail-order from the court.

According to sources, Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who is advocating the jailed Chaiman of Sahara, said that the company had already paid Rs. 5000 crore need to free Roy. As the 60 properties of the group is already ‘in a virtual receivership of SEBI’, Dhavan requested the Court for parole or house arrest. However, Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices Anil R. Dave’s judicial bench denied the request and said that the bench would prefer to wait for the sell result of the properties first.

HC Announces Friday as the Date for Narada Forensic Test

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court said that it will pass an order next Friday in order to collect the tapes and other devices used to make the Narada sting video showing Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders and MPs taking money. The HC has also asserted on Wednesday that all the tools and devices used will go through a forensic test ‘to ascertain the genuineness of the videos,’ should be presented to the court.

The division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A Banerjee said that they will pass an order and observe all the recordings, date and time and when the tapes were first derived, the pen drive and a mobile phone that was allegedly used to record the monetary transactions  been made to operate the Narada sting, said reports.

Following the lawyers who appeared in the court in support of the TMC leaders claiming ‘why the tapes were uploaded during elections and whether material from an iPhone could be admitted as evidence should be considered before the footage was sent to the laboratory’ was denied by the justice bench.

Chief Justice Chellur said: “This court will send the documents to verify their authenticity first. Then other matters will be decided. Only after receiving the report will this court decide about the maintainability of the case. It will also decide whether the issue will be sent to a criminal court or any agency for investigation....Common people should know whether the incident was authentic or not.” She also added that the court will pass an order on Friday for forensic test.

Asked about the time the sting videos were released, Narada News chief editor Mathew Samuel presented all the details of the tapes including people associated with the video and the how much time it took to shoot the video. 

Mocking Muslims and Indians: Trump Continues Humiliation, Hillary Backed

Ludhiana: The most talked about candidate of the US Presidential poll, Donald Trump continues to mock Indians and the immigrant Muslims. His vow to build a big and beautiful wall on the Mexico border to cut short the illegal Muslim immigration is followed by his mocking of the Indian accent created stir and received huge criticism.

The main opponent, Hillary Clinton from the Democratic Party, on the other hand, had dressed herself with a bright, multicolored paisley jacket designed by Juhi Kilachand, a Ludhiana-born designer now living in New York. The sudden change in the US presidential frontrunner Hillary amazed everybody, including the designers itself who come to notice their design on the social media posts.

With her effort completely opposite to Trump, Hillary also declared 50 percent of her office to be full with women officials once she get elected as the new president in this November.

Following Trump’s comment over the Indians and Muslim immigrants, Amal Clooney and Indian actress Priyanka Chopra became the latest critic to highlight the controversial comment. Chopra, famous for her role Alex Parish in the American TV series Quantico said: “I just think you can’t put a ban on anyone. Generalizing a type of people is really primitive.”

Bollywood Director Kabir Khan Assaulted At Karachi Airport

Karachi: Bajrangi Bhaijaan-famed director Kabir Khan was ‘heckled’ at the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport in Pakistan on Wednesday by a number of people present in the airport lounge. The protesters confronted the 43-year-old director claiming that he showed ‘Pakistan in a bad light’ in his latest film Phantom.  The director went to Pakistan to attend a marketing seminar at Lahore, reports said.

Kabir, famous for his ‘firm belief in India's secular fabric’ to rejoice the friendship between Indian and Pakistan, was attacked by a shoe-wield protester wearing black salwar-kameez. However, the director did not respond to any of the comments, sources said.  

Reports are that the angry protesters were heard saying Pakistan Zindabad and repeating anti-India slogans. Also, they had asked Kabir to make film on the activities of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) activities in Pakistan. “You people send Jhadav and kill hundreds here. Why don’t you make a movie about it?” asked a protester who referred to RAW official Kulbhushan Jhadav who has been arrested in Pakistan.

Kabir’s film Phantom based on a storyline of the Mumbai attacks had Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif in the lead role. A story about a retired military officer, who is in a mission to kill the Mumbai attack mastermind, was banned in Pakistan claiming that the film showed a negative picture of Pakistan.

However, Bajrangi Bhaijaan starring Salman Khan made ‘roaring business’ in Pakistan and had promoted Indo-Pak ties in its plot. Kabir Khan denied commenting anything about the incident. He later took to Twitter: “To media on both sides: 12 screaming lunatics with a mobile phone camera is not news. Please don’t give them the attention they want. Ignore.”

Drought-Hit Maharashtra Can Lead To Make India the Net Sugar Importer This Year

Mumbai: With consecutive three-years of drought in Maharashtra that is going through its most crucial period this year, sugar production is seen dropping over 40 percent. Maharashtra is the country’s largest sugar producing state and is likely to become the net imported of sugar in 2016-17.

Reports are that with dry irrigation in repeated years at Maharashtra, the country will ‘mark the first time the nation has been a net importer of the sweetener in four years.’ President of the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association, Ashok Jain, confirmed: “India will need to import next year due to a production shortfall.” “Drought has severely affected cane plantations in Maharashtra. The government should stop exports now to reduce import requirements in the next season,” Jain added.

According to the Met Office, India has been stroked with the worst heat and drought in recent years. Following water scarcity and disturbed weather phenomenon, Maharashtra failed to cultivate sugar cane even for the next financial year, starting from this October.

Baban Swami, a farmer from Latur district of Maharashtra, the most drought-affected district of the state, said: “Even for drinking water we are relying on water tankers. It wasn’t possible for anyone from our village to cultivate cane.” Reports are that the condition in the state ‘could help push overall output below consumption for the first time in seven years.’

With a history of boosting global sugar prices in the past, India is the biggest sugar consumer with a total of 25.7 million tones, including 8.5 million tons from Maharashtra alone.  The global supply deficit is going to rise with the Indian shortfall. “This could trigger a rally, although a lot depends on how much sugar India needs to import,” as said by a sugar trading firm from Singapore.

Great Barrier Reef in Verge of Extinction: Scientists

The largest living ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef, stretched 1,430 miles along Australia’s coast is ‘dead or dying and almost all of it is on the brink of extinction’, said the scientists. The scientists have also warned the health of the ecosystem, assessing it’s increasingly bleaking conditions.

In another publication from the Australian ministry, the corals of the Great Barrier Reef is also suffering from bleaching- a condition leaving the coral to push out the algae inside, making it white. Apart from the outrageous effect of global warming, the strong El Nino is also playing a master role in bleaching and death of the corals.

Professor Terry Hughes, conveyor of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce that conducts aerial exhibition of world heritage sites, said: “We've never seen anything like this scale of bleaching before. In the northern Great Barrier Reef, it's like 10 cyclones have come ashore all at once.” Hughes also added that almost 50 percent of the total coral is already dead or dying.

Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt, in this context, asserted: “There were some who said that the worst had passed. We rejected that, and they were wrong.” Even the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee that denied the Great Barrier Reef in the endangered list but continued their concern for its future.

Environmentalists across the globe, who accounted global warming and El Nino as the reason behind the loss, also have considered the usage of coal and coal-fire in Australia as long term reason.

The Great Barrier Reef is a location to draw in a huge amount of tourist, in a fear of tourism business loss, are reluctant to publish the bleached pictures of the corals. The tourism companies even have barred the entry of media and politicians in the bleached area fearing its impact on tourism, said reports. Apart from the environmental impacts and tourism affects of bleaching, half a billion people from Australia is dependent for their livelihood on the corals and as many as $30 million people’s income is at stake, said reports. 

Priyanka Chopra Will Be Attending Dinner With Barack Obama

Washington DC: Actor Priyanka Chopra has confirmed that she will be dining with US President Barack Obama at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the end of this month.

She was invited earlier this month to the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner hosted by US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. The dinner will take place on April 30.

Priyanka, who found global recognition with her character Alex Parrish in the American TV series Quantico, was earlier “not sure” about attending the dinner due to her work commitments.

Priyanka will be dining with some of Hollywood’s biggest names like Will Smith, his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, Kerry Washington, Shonda Rhimes, Kim Kardashian’s model sister Kendall Jenner and others.

The non-profit White House Correspondents’ Association, whose members include the reporters, producers, camera operators and other journalists regularly covering the White House, traditionally hosts this annual dinner to raise money for journalism scholarships.

Last week, Priyanka was included among Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2016 list. She was one the seven Indians who cracked this year’s list, the others being Sania Mirza, Sunit Narain, Rahguram Rajan, Sachin Bansal, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. The list also featured Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Adele, Usain Bolt, Lewis Hamilton, Nicki Minaj, Karlie Kloss, Denis Mukwege, Ronda Rousey, Christine Lagarde, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Tsai Ing-Wen, Sean Barry MacFarland, Bernie Sanders, Justin Trudeau, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barack Obama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Hillary Clinton, Queen Maxima, Dwayne Johnson, Lori Robinson, Vladimir Putin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Pope Francis, Gina Rodriguez, Nadia Murad, Caitlyn Jenner, Charlize Theron, Oscar Issac, Ariana Grande, Idris Elba, Kendrick Lamar, Elena Ferrante, among others.

The annual correspondent’s dinner will be the last White House Correspondents Dinner to be hosted by Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Sudarsan Pattnaik Wins Gold Medal At Moscow Sand Sculpture Championship

Moscow: Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has won the Gold Medal at the ninth Moscow Sand Sculpture Championship “The magical world of sand” 2016.

Pattnaik won the competition for his 15 feet high art work “Mahatma Gandhi’s sculpture for non-violence and peace”. Post his win, he said: “I am very happy to have won the title for my country. The director of sand art festival PaveI Minilkov presented the gold medal and the trophy at the ceremony today. I have tried to show through my sculpture how Gandhiji’s non-violence concept will bring global peace around the world.”

After winning the award, the 39-year-old sand artist called on India’s ambassador in Russia Pankaj Saran, who congratulated him on his accomplishment.

A total of 20 top sculptors from different countries competed at the championship, which was held from April 21 to 27 at Kolomenskoye in Moscow.

Pattnaik has participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships across the world and won many awards for the country.

In 2008 he won the World champion title at USF World sand sculpture championship in Berlin. Apart from this he is a five-time winner of people choice award at Berlin, which is a record. In 2009 Won the Korea sand Sculpture award. In 2010, he won the gold medal for people choice award at third Moscow World sand sculpture championship. He also won three medal in North American solo sand sculpture championship, People choice prize in Canada and Moscow. In 2011, he won the first prize and public prize at Denmark and also won double medal at Solo International sand art contest in Mervala 2012. In 2013, he won the first prize (Gold Medal) at Saint Peters Burg in 12th International sand sculpture competition at Russia, Danish grand prizes at International Sand competition Championship, Denmark and won Moscow museum prize at Russia. He has also got the fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri in 2014.

His sand sculpture on Black Taj Mahal earned him accolades all over the world. Pattnaik runs a sand art school at Puri beach in Orissa.

Russia Tops WADA’s 2014 Doping Blacklist

Montreal: On Wednesday, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said that Russia was the leading doping offender in global sports during 2014, followed by Italy and India.

Russia, accounted for 148 of the 1,693 failed tests recorded, according to WADA’s 2014 Anti-Doping Rule Violations Report. Italy (123), India (96), Belgium (91), France (91), Turkey (73), Australia (49), China (49), Brazil (46) and South Korea (43) rounded out the top ten spots on the list that illustrates doping offences committed in global sport.

The total number of failed tests globally fell 13 percent from the 1,953 recorded in the previous year.

Athletics and bodybuilding had the most violations with 248 and 225, respectively, followed by cycling, weightlifting, power-lifting, football, wrestling, boxing, rugby union and aquatics.

The WADA report marks the final year of statistics under the 2009 World Anti-Doping Code. The 2015 report, which will be issued in 2017, will reflect results of current anti-doping efforts under the 2015 Code.

Russia, second behind the United States in the athletics medal table at the 2012 London Olympics, is banned from all athletics after an independent WADA commission revealed widespread state-sponsored doping. Russia’s participation in the 2016 Rio Olympics’ athletics programme is in doubt due to a doping scandal.

The country now has to convince the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) that it has made enough progress in reforming its anti-doping operation to be re-instated to the sport in time for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The 2016 Rio Olympics, which is the 31^st Olympics, will take place from August 5 to 21.

Rahul Gandhi & Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee share stage in Park Circus

Park Circus: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and veteran communist leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee shared the dais during a joint election rally in Kolkata on Wednesday. 

This comes just ahead of the fifth and penultimate phase of the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2016 that is scheduled for Saturday. The camaraderie is so much so that Gandhi was seen guiding the veteran on the stage before they took their respective seats on the dais.

This is the first time arch-rivals Congress and Left Front have joined hands to fight against the ruling Trinamool Congress. The fight between the Left Front and Congress, which is still seen in Kerala, has been a traditional one and has been continuing since the days of the doyen of Indian communism and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.

The rally organized at centrally located Park Circus Maidan is widely being considered as the testimony of reports that the alliance was a brainchild of Bhattacharjee and Chief Ministerial candidate Surjya Kanta Mishra.

Another top CPI(M) leader Biman Bose has not been witnessed in any of the rallies with Congress leaders. Before the two sides came out clear with their understanding, Bose had ruled out joint rallies. “How can the hammer-and-sickle and palm symbols share same space? The CPI(M)-Congress has come to an understanding only to oust Trinamool Congress government,” Bose was quoted as saying in local media.

However, it may be pointed out that Congress was an ally of the Trinamool in 2011 Assembly Elections which dethroned the Leftists from Bengal.

67 With Criminal Cases, 43 Crorepatis In West Bengal’s Fifth Phase Polls

Kolkata: In the fifth phase of the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, which is going to take place on April 30, out of the 349 candidates contesting, 67 have criminal cases pending against them while 43 are crorepatis.

The districts which are going under poll on April 30 are South 24 Parganas, Kolkata and Hooghly. A total of 53 Constituencies will face election on that day.

According to a report released by the West Bengal Election Watch on Tuesday, 52 of the 67 candidates with criminal cases face serious charges including that of murder and crimes against women. The ruling Trinamool Congress with 17 nominees leads the list of candidates with criminal charges, followed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist with 14.The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded ten such candidates while the Congress has fielded seven.

Five constituencies, Kolkata Port, Jangipara, Kasba, Raidighi and Singur , have been declared as “red alert Constituencies”, where there are three or more candidates with criminal charges.

The average assets of all the 349 candidates is Rs 70.78 lakh.

Trinamool leads the crorepati list with 23 candidates followed by nine from the BJP and six from CPI-M and three from the Congress.

Khalid Ebadullah of the Congress from Magrahat West in South 24 Parganas is the wealthiest candidate with assets in excess of Rs 19 crore. One the flip side, Indian Union Muslim League nominee WH Khan contesting from Ballygunge in the city and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate Kashinath Murmu from Saptagram in Hooghly have declared zero assets.

Facebook Revenue Smashes Expectations As Mobile Ad Sales Surge

Menlo Park: Social networking service Facebook’s quarterly revenue rose more than 50 percent, handily beating Wall Street expectations as its wildly popular mobile app and a push into live video lured new advertisers and encouraged existing ones to boost spending.

The company’s shares rose 9.5 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday to $118.39, setting it on track to open at a new high on Thursday, at nearly triple its initial public offering four years ago.

Facebook also announced it will create a new class of non-voting shares in a move aimed at letting Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg give away his wealth without relinquishing control of the social media juggernaut he founded.

Some 1.65 billion people used Facebook monthly as of March 31, 2016, up from 1.44 billion a year earlier. Zuckerberg said users were spending more than 50 minutes per day on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, a huge amount of time given the millions of apps available to users.

Advertisers are shifting money from television to web and mobile platforms, and Facebook is one of the biggest beneficiaries. It faces fierce competition in the mobile video market, where rivals Snapchat and YouTube also garner billions of video views every day.

The company’s net income attributable to common shareholders nearly tripled to $1.51 billion, or 52 cents per share, in the first quarter from $509 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier.

Last year, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced that they would give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares to fund charitable endeavors.

Last week, Zuckerberg and Chan were included in Time’s 100 Most Influential People 2016 list.

Heat wave Shuts Schools In Jharkhand, Kills 8 In Orissa

Ranchi: The ongoing heat wave across the country is only escalating, with Orissa and Jharkhand being among worst victims.

Summer vacations in Jharkhand schools for students of pre-nursery to class eight will begin from April 29. Jharkhand Education Secretary Ardhana Patnaik had on Tuesday ordered the closure of schools from April 28 due to the intense heat. However, representatives of schools met Ranchi district officials on Wednesday and requested for the implementation of the order from Friday. Students of Class VIII to XII will continue to attend school till May 7 from 6.30 AM to 10.30 AM. Jharkhand is facing a heat wave and resultant water crisis this year. Mercury in Ranchi has shot up to more than 40 degrees Celsius since the beginning of April. The maximum temperature has touched around 45 degrees in Jamshedpur, Daltanganj and other parts of the state. Acute water crisis has hit residents of Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Daltanagnj and other parts of Jharkhand. More than 15 people have died of heat wave, including a schoolgirl who died of sunstroke in Ranchi on Monday.

Meanwhile, People in Orissa on Wednesday continued to reel under the blistering heat wave as 17 places recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. The government confirmed the death of eight people due to sunstroke. The highest temperature of 46.3 degrees Celsius was recorded at Subarnapur, followed by Talcher at 45 degrees and Angul at 44.7.The state government received reports of deaths of 112 people due to sunstroke, the special relief commissioner’s office said. As many as 542 tankers have been engaged and 1,234 plastic water tanks placed to meet the requirement of water in urban areas. Similarly, 955 tankers have been engaged for supply of water in rural areas.

Austria Adopts Strict Laws To Keep Out Refugees

Vienna: The Austrian parliament has adopted one of Europe’s most restrictive refugee laws, allowing the government to declare a state of emergency if the number of migrants threatens “national security.” It may also directly reject refugees at the border.

The toughest-ever bill, passed by 98 to 67 on Wednesday, allows the Austrian government to declare a state of emergency if the number of migrants unexpectedly goes up, thereby posing “a threat to national security.”

Depending on the situation, the state of emergency could be extended for three more six-month-long terms. Under the new law, border control officers would also be given the right to refuse entry to nearly all migrants, with only a few exceptions for those facing safety threats in a neighboring transit country or those who already have relatives in Austria.

Some other vulnerable groups like unaccompanied minors and pregnant women would be kept exempt from the harsh rule.

The special measures will also oblige migrants to file their asylum applications directly at the border in registration centers which are yet to be built, contrary to a previous practice of letting the refugees into the country. They may be held for up to 120 hours while their application is being verified.

Wedged between Europe’s two main refugee routes — the Balkans and Italy, Austria received around 90,000 asylum requests in 2015, the second-highest in the bloc on a per capita basis.

Many brave a short but dangerous sea journey from Turkey to Greece, before trekking up through the Balkans toward western and northern Europe. More than a million people, primarily from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, landed in Europe last year, triggering the continent’s worst migration crisis since the aftermath of World War II.

CM Complains Poll Rigging On Fifth Phase

In a poll campaign at Raidighi in South-24-Parganas, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was heard saying the voters to be ‘vigilant’ as Congress and CPM, the two leading Opposition parties in Bengal will opt for poll rigging to increase their share of vote. Reports are that State ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC) head on Tuesday had addressed a poll campaign at Raidighi and ‘commented over the prospect’ of actor-turned-politician candidate Debashree Roy there.

“They have planned to rig the polls in some booths in Raidighi. You should be vigilant. What do you want in Raidighi? Kanti or shanti (peace)? If you want shanti, vote for Debashree,” said Banerjee for her party candidate Debashree who is planning to go on re-election against CPM’s Kanti Ganguly. Raidighi will go on polls on the fifth phase of Assembly Elections, on April 30.

The CM even claimed that she has received text messages from few CPM workers who wrote that “The booths where Kanti Ganguly would rig the polls are 221, 224, 268, 263, 108, 109, 111, 112, 225, 235, 229, 198, 203, 202, and 201.”

According to reports, Roy competed against Kanti Ganguly in 2011 Assembly polls and 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Also, Banerjee has used the word ‘rigging’ for the first times in this session of polls while her party has been accused of doing the same in the earlier phases. A mocking CPM member Mohammad Salim said: “The chief minister, who has been at the helm of the administration for five years and with policemen at her beck and call, is complaining about rigging. This is something unheard of. This means Kanti Ganguly should sweep the polls in Raidighi.”