Indian priest in Yemen old age home attack held by ISIS
Indian priest from Bengaluru, Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who went missing on Friday after an attack on an old age home run by Kolkata's Missionaries of Charity in Aden, Yemen, is being held by the attackers who most likely belong to terror group Islamic State.
Though the ISIS has not taken responsibility for the attack, Yemeni sources believe that they are to blame.
"According to our information, the extremists who attacked the elderly care home in Aden have kidnapped priest Tom Uzhunnalil, a 56-year-old Indian, who was taken to an unknown location," said a Yemeni security official quoted in The Indian Express.
Maha govt wants Mumbai's dance bar workers to get salaries and ID cards
Draft legislation by the Maharashtra state government that aims to stop the exploitation of women in Mumbai's notorious dance bars includes such provisions as a fixed monthly salary with salary slips, identity cards and a choice of work timings.
"We will not allow exploitation of women in dance bars," said Dr Vijay Satbir Singh, principal secretary, home department.
Since the Supreme Court struck down several of the state government's proposed norms for obtaining a dance bar licence so as to prevent obscenity, the government has now decided to ensure that dance bar owners do not exploit their female staff, says the Hindustan Times.
Will Smriti Irani be BJP's CM candidate for UP?
Smriti Irani as the BJP's choice for Uttar Pradesh's chief ministerial candidate in the assembly elections next year may be in question, say sources in the party.
Irani was seen by the BJP as a probably chief ministerial candidate in UP, especially after her speech in Parliament in the nationalism debate.
But certain sections of the party are cautious about choosing Irani because of its experience of other state chief ministers handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, say the sources.
"Modiji's political fate hangs on the outcome (of the UP assembly elections," a BJP source told The Telegraph.
Muzaffarnagar riots report: Top officials to blame
Intelligence failure and the negligence of certain top state officials are what led to the 2013 riots in Muzaffarnager and the loss of 60 lives, according to the report filed by the Justice Vishnu Sahai inquiry commission on the issue.
Tabled in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Sunday, the 700-page report included 14 factors that led to the riots.
According to the inquiry commission, the negligence of four officials at the time - Principal Secretary (Home) R M Srivastava, Circle Officer Jansath Jagat Ram Joshi, Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma and Muzaffarnagar SSP Subhash Chandra Dubey - was a big factor, reports The Indian Express.
India on high alert today courtesy Pak NSA's shared intelligence
If India, especially Gujarat, is on high alert today and tomorrow in preparation for a possible 26/11-type terror attack on the processions of Mahashivrati, it is because of intelligence provided by Pakistan's National Security Advisor.
The warning from Pakistan's NSA, Lieutenant-General Naseer Janjua, is unprecedented. Though it did not include details such as which Pakistan-based jihadist group is planning the attack, the information provided by Janjua has "enough credible sourcing for the matter to be taken seriously," said a government official quoted by The Indian Express.
Sex ratio dips in Gujarat: Socio-Economic Review
The sex ratio in Gujarat has come down to 919 in 2011 from 920 in 2001 as against significant increase of 10 points in the national average during this period, according to the Socio-Economic Review for 2015-16 tabled in the State Assembly recently. As against the national figure of 943, the overall sex ratio of Gujarat was 919 in 2011, the Review said. With 919 females for every 1000 males, Gujarat ranked 22nd among 28 states as per the 2011 Census.
Zika virus destroying neurons in child brain
The belief that Zika virus caused birth defects such as microcephaly, a condition in which a baby is born with a small head was strengthened on Friday by two studies published in medical journals. Researchers working with lab-grown human stem cells "suspect they have discovered how the Zika virus probably causes microcephaly in fetuses," reported the journal Cell Stem Cell. Zika virus selectively infects cells in the brain's cortex, or outer layer, making those cells "more likely to die and less likely to divide normally and make new brain cells," according to a press release from the journal.
5,00,000 will die by 2050, as climate change alters diets
Climate change will take 5 lakh lives by 2050, a new study has suggested. These deaths would be caused by the food scarcity, and are additional to deaths caused by other effects of global warming. The study was published in the medical journal The Lancet. Scientists behind the study predicted world temperatures to be two degrees higher than in the 1986-2005 time period. It found that there would be 3.2% lower food availability, and people would be consuming 4% less fruit and vegetables.
