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GSAT-18 launched successfully on board Ariane-5 from Kourou in French Guiana

India's latest communication satellite GSAT-18 was on Thursday successfully launched by a heavy duty rocket of Arianespace from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana.

The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but deferred by 24 hours owing to unfavourable weather conditions at Kourou, a French territory located in northeastern coast of South America.

GSAT-18, built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), aims at providing telecommunications services for the country by strengthening ISRO's current fleet of 14 operational telecommunication satellites.

Handwara: Terror attack on Indian Army camp in Kashmir's Langate; 2 terrorists killed

Two terrorists killed after they attacked an army camp in north Kashmir's Kupwara district on 6 October morning, prompting security forces to retaliate, army said.

"At around 5 am, terrorists opened firing on an army camp at Langate in Kupwara district, which was retaliated by the alert jawans," an army official said.

The terrorists shot at two sentry posts of the 30 Rashtriya Rifles camp and ran away. The heavy exchange of fire lasted around half an hour.

No casualties were reported.

Madras HC rejects plea asking Tamil Nadu govt to release statement on Jayalalithaa's health

The Madras High Court on 6 October rejected 'publicity petition' asking the court to order the Tamil Nadu government to release an official statement on Tamil Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's health.

A PIL, on 3 October, was filed by social activist KR Ramaswamy, stating that the public wants to know about the CM's health. Ramaswamy and the public want to know the "real facts" surrounding the CM's illness and treatment being administered.The PIL petition had sought to know whether the CM was conscious and in good health to take important decisions, and to hold discussions with ministers and officials. He said the hospital's statements have not given a real picture of the disease and the treatment being administered to the CM.

Yasin Malik's health deteriorates; South Asia Forum for Human Rights group intervenes

Responding to President of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Yasin Malik's wife's claim of deliberate negligence towards treatment of her husband, the secretary General of South Asia Forum for Human Rights has written to the Foreign Secretary asking them to provide the Hurriyat leader with the adequate treatment.

This come days after Yasin Malik's wife wrote to Secretary General of United Nations Organisation claiming that her husband who is presently detained in Humhama Jail in Kashmir is not been given appropriate treatment for his deteriorating health.

In a letter to the foreign secretary, the Secretary General of South Asia Forum for Human Rights informed the foreign secretary that his relatives and persons who visited him in jail had claimed that Yasin Malik was not given treatment for his injury and on days medicine for his heart was not given to him due to which he is in a bad state of health.

Congress says, BJP's resolution at Una conclave bundle of lies

Three Himachal Pradesh cabinet Ministers condemned the resolution passed by the BJP at its conclave at Una against the state government and rejected the same as bundle of lies.

In a joint statement issued on 5 august in Shimla, the ministers, Vidya Stokes, G S Bali and Mukesh Agnihotri said the Una Conclave of BJP was a futile effort of a dejected and divided house to put up a brave face.

All round development in the state under Congress government has caused panic in the BJP and its leaders were trying desperately to register their presence, they said.

Gujarat govt opposes demand for CBI probe into Una atrocity, says CDI investigation 'Immaculate'

Gujarat government on Wednesday opposed the demand for a CBI probe into the Una Dalit atrocity incident before the Gujarat High Court, saying that the investigation done by the CID was "immaculate".

In an affidavit filed before the division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice VM Pancholi, the government also said that Thangadh Dalit killing incident of 2012 had "a completely different set of facts that cannot be equated with the facts of the present (Una) case".

The government's reply came in response to a public interest litigation seeking a CBI probe in the Una case where some Dalit men were flogged in public on the suspicion of having killed a cow.

The petition said the probe by state CID may remain inconclusive, as in the case of death of three Dalit youths in police firing at Thangadh in Surendranagar in 2012.

Humans have upper limit on life span

Human lifespans have increased consistently over the last century, leading some to believe that there was no upper limit to age.

However, according to recent findings from scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York, not only does the human lifespan have an upper limit, but we've already hit it. Scientists believe that the errors in gene copying will mean that human lifespan will almost never go beyond 125 years.

Scientists recreate 220-year-old beer

The Sydney Cove was a ship that set sail from Calcutta to Australia in 1797, laden with over 30,000 litres of alcohol. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of its destination, the ship sank before it reached its destination.

In 1990, divers recovered several well preserved bottles of alcohol from the wreck, some of them containing beer.

Amazingly, scientists have found still living yeast in samples of the recovered beer and have used it to produce several batches of beer that will go on sale at the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston, where the Sydney Cove artifacts are housed.

Study finds toxins in soft drink bottles

A government-commissioned study by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) has found toxins in 5 different brands of popular soft drinks.

The study, carried out in February-March, shows that toxins were present in the PET bottles of soft drinks from both Pepsico as well as Coca Cola. The brands that were found to contain toxins are Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Sprite, Coca Cola and 7Up.

In all, 5 different toxins - heavy metals antimony, lead, chromium and cadmium and DEHP or Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate - were found in the drinks.

UN peacekeepers allowed rape of aid worker in South Sudan

A US-based rights watch group has accused Chinese UN peacekeepers of refusing to protect civilians at a UN civilian protection site.

According to the Washington-based Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), Chinese peacekeepers "abandoned their posts entirely" during an outbreak of fighting, thereby allowing for the rape and sexual assault of multiple aid workers and civilians.

The attrocities took place when around 80 members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army attacked a camp in Juba that was manned by the Chinese peacekeepers.