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Overdose of anti-anxiety drug may have killed Sunanda Pushkar

The Delhi Police on Friday said that Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, could have died of an overdose of Alprax, an anti-anxiety drug, reports The Indian Express. An AIIMS report analysed the findings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Pushkar's viscera samples, before preparing the report and submitting it to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is looking into Pushkar's death. Sunanda Pushkar died in mysterious circumstances at a hotel in Delhi on 17 January, 2014. The police are now investigating whether her death was suicide or murder.

Odd-even will return in new and improved avatar: Kejriwal

As the 15-day trial of Delhi's road-rationing odd-even scheme ended on Friday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet that it would return in an improved avatar, reports the Hindustan Times. Delhi's transport minister, Gopal Rai, told NDTV that in the next round of the odd-even scheme, the list of exemptions would be pruned, and more buses would be put on the streets. Meanwhile, Kejriwal has requested citizens of Delhi to follow the scheme voluntarily. The scheme was implemented on a trial basis to deal with air pollution. However, no clear link between the road-rationing and air pollution has been seen during the trial.

Govt looking into law legalising passive euthanasia

The government is contemplating a law on passive euthanasia, additional solicitor general PS Patwalia told the Supreme Court on Friday, reports the Hindustan Times. A 5-judge constitution bench is hearing petitions seeking the legalisation of passive euthanasia. "It is in the process. The Medical Treatment to Terminally Ill Patients (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners) Bill is pending. The proposed regulation deals with it but the 'living will' is not envisaged here," Patwalia told the bench. One of the petitions asks that people suffering from terminal illnesses for which there is no cure be allowed to make 'living wills' that indicate that they would want to be taken off life support systems.

JeM chief in "protective custody" says law minister of Pak Punjab

Jaish-E-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar has been placed in "protective custody", said Rana Sanaullah, law minister of Pakistan's Punjab province during a television talk show on Thursday night, reports the Hindustan Times. Azhar is being investigated by Pakistan on the basis of information provided by India that the JeM was behind the terror attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on 2 January. "Masood Azhar has been taken into protective custody by the counter-terrorism force," Sanaullah said. "This has been done so that if the information (provided by India) on the Pathankot incident is developed by our agencies, then the people connected to the incident can be arrested in that case."

Indo-Pak foreign secretary talks will be held in January

The foreign secretary talks between India and Pakistan will be held in January, The Indian Express reports. The talks tentatively scheduled for 15 January, became contingent upon Pakistan's actions in the Pathankot terror case. On Thursday, the government said that the talks were postponed to the "very near future", and it appears that they will take place almost immediately, sources told The Indian Express. "[The] PM's message to [NSA Ajit] Doval and [foreign secretary S] Jaishankar was clear: trust but verify. That was the underlying message under which they were working," said sources. "There is no point in delaying the talks indefinitely as that will be counter-productive."

Khan's market getting in the way of Khan Market

Delhi's Khan Market Traders' Association has sent a legal notice to actor Salman Khan, asking him to change the name of his ecommerce portal, khanmarketonline.com, reports the Hindustan Times. Salman Khan had launched his ecommerce venture on 27 December, his birthday. The legal notice states that his portal khanmarketonline.com could be considered 'deceptive and misleading' for consumers and could also affect the trade of the market. The actor's office responded with a text message asking the association to email their request and assuring them that necessary action would be taken.

Take a selfie and die: India leads in selfie-related deaths

Killed by an oncoming train, by falling out of a boat, by falling off a cliff, by falling into a canal and drowning - these are all examples of the deaths of enthusiastic selfie-takers in India, reports the Hindustan Times citing a story in The Washington Post. Of 27 selfie-related deaths around the world, half were reported from India. All the selfie deaths in India were not of Indians, however. In September 2015, a Japanese tourist died after falling off the steps of the Taj Mahal while taking a selfie. Last year the authorities at the Kumbh Mela in Nashik and Trimbakeshwar had established no-selfie zones in certain areas because bottlenecks caused by selfie-takers could spark stampedes.

Of Bananas and Gold Chains

The Mumbai police force-fed 48 bananas to a chain-snatcher. This, in order to recover a gold chain he had stolen and subsequently swallowed, in an effort to evade arrest. Gopi R. Ghaware, the man forced to eat four dozen bananas, was caught in Ghatkopar east fish market in the eastern suburbs on Wednesday night. He had snatched and run with a gold chain that weight 25 gms. He was ten x-rayed, and the chain was found in his stomach, Proof of his first crime.


On Friday morning he was accompanied to the restroom by four policemen. His morning ablutions were then filmed - and the chain was recovered. This isn't the first time bananas have aided the Mumbai. Earlier in August, another gold chain snatcher was forced to excrete 40gms of gold with the help of bananas and milk consumed over the span of 4 days. police.

Playboy Mansion with Hugh Hefner is up for sale


If you have $200 million to spare, and a willingness to share the ultimate bachelor pad with an 89 year old man and his 29 year old wife - then there's very good news for you. The 22,000-square foot, Gothic Tudor Playboy Mansion, in Holmby Hills, California, is up for sale by Playboy enterprises. But there's a caveat: the deal will be structured as a living estate i.e. for as long as Hefner's alive, he must be allowed to continue renting the house.

If you aren't convinced - the house has a catering kitchen, a wine cellar, home theater, game house, gym, tennis court, swimming pool, 5 acres of land, exotic animal pens and aviaries. Oh and here's the best bit - it's one of the few remaining residencies in LA with a zoo license.

Shimla's just seen 800 cases of jaundice

In the past few weeks alone. Which means that the capital of Himachal Pradesh is in the middle of a Jaundice epidemic. And on Thursday, it also reported the first death due to jaundice. A 29 year old woman died at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH) in Shimla, after arriving in a critical condition.

She was a mother, having only delivered a baby a few days ago. She tested positive for Hepatitis E, which is typically due to consumption of contaminated water.


Civic authorities in Shimla suspect that sewage has mixed with potable water, leading to the spread of the water-borne disease. Deputy Mayor Tikendar Panwar believes that effluents from the sewerage plant in Malyana and outdated technology in this government-run plant, specifically, appear to be responsible for the epidemic. The State High Court has sought a status report from the Government in this regard.