Kathmandu, Apr 26 (PTI) At least 17 bodies have been recovered at the base camp on Mount Everest where hundreds of climbers, including many foreigners, are stranded after an avalanche triggered by Nepal’s massive earthquake slammed into a part of the camp on the world’s highest peak.
More than 60 climbers were injured and hundreds of foreign adventurers, hikers and guides at the base camp were feared missing when the avalanche swept down the Everest and buried under snow a section of the mountaineering camp yesterday.
Twenty-two of the most seriously injured climbers were today ferried by helicopters, including from the Indian Air Force, to Pheriche village, the nearest medical facility, though bad weather is hampering rescue and relief operations.
There were more than 100 climbers also at camps 1 and 2 on Mount Everest, above the base camp, and all are reported safe, Nepal Mountaineering Association officials said today, adding it will take time before these people can be evacuated.
A mountaineering team of Indian Army who were hiking on Everest were also safe, an Indian army spokesman said.
One Chinese climber was among the dead while tech-firm Google today reported the death of one of its California-based executive, Dan Fredinburg, in the avalanche on Everest.
Tourism ministry officials estimated that at least 1,000 climbers, including about 400 foreigners, had been at the base camp when Nepal’s worst earthquake in 80 years yesterday noon triggered the avalanche on Everest. The quake also shook neighbouring India and China.
The death toll has crossed 2,000-mark, of which nearly 1,000 are reported killed in Kathmandu valley alone, according to the Home Ministry.
The avalanche began on Mount Kumori, a 7,000-meter-high mountain just a few miles from Everest, and gained strength as it headed downwards towards the base camp, flattening at least 30 tents.
An avalanche in April last year just above the base camp of Everest had killed 16 Sherpa guides.
Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak at 8,848 metre, is scaled by hundreds of climbers every year. The peak was first conquered by New Zealand climber Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Days after government cleared a proposal to lower to 16 years the age to try juveniles as adults in heinous crimes, the move has received kudos from some quarters but child rights activists and others are of the view that it is an undesirable and a poorly conceived idea.
Those who support the idea do so with a caution that it will succeed if several safeguards, including juveniles’ rehabilitation by providing them proper education, food and shelter, are taken care of.
However, C Raj Kumar, vice chancellor of O P Jindal Global University in Haryana, and child rights activist and lawyer Ananth Kumar Asthana took a diametrically opposite view saying tough provisions for juveniles in conflict with law have already failed in several countries and the real problem is not being addressed.
“Tough law (for juveniles) has already failed in several countries and is being amended,” Asthana said.
His view was echoed by Raj Kumar, also a rights activist, who said, “By not addressing the real problem in the society and only by lowering the age, we are shifting blame on the children.”
Differing with them were noted senior criminal lawyer K T S Tulsi and another senior counsel H S Phoolka who said with change in law, juveniles in conflict with law will come to know that they cannot be let off easily.
“Criminal gangs take the advantage of this age criteria and it is the child who gets exploited by these gangs. Since the inception of this law, involvement of the children in crime has increased by around 300 per cent,” Tulsi said.
The caution in welcoming the new proposal was vivid when Phoolka said government should take care that juveniles in the age group of 16 to 18 years involved in heinous crimes like rape and murder should be kept away from the death penalty.
“The blanket implementation of IPC for the heinous crimes will not be a welcome idea. There needs to be certain safeguards, like no death penalty will be awarded to such children. But above all, JJB Act first needs to be implemented properly,” he said. .
New Delhi, April 26 (PTI) Government detected a whopping over Rs 7,800 crore of illegal monies within the country and abroad during 2013-14 as the elite Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) found all-time high cases of suspicious transactions in the country’s economic channels.
As per a latest report prepared by the Finance Ministry, the FIU’s action led to the “detection of unaccounted income of Rs 7,078 crore by the Income Tax department while the Customs and Service Tax departments detected evasion of Rs 750 crore” during the said period.
After the premier technical snoop wing under the Finance Ministry processed country-wide Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) it obtained from various financial institutions, the report said, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also “detected proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 20 crore and seized assets to the tune of Rs 17 crore.”
The report, accessed by PTI, said as a result of this electronic intelligence generated by FIU, the “I-T department seized assets worth Rs 163 crore and the Service Tax department sealed assets worth Rs 17 crore during the same period.”
Also, as part of the same action the ED registered as many as 105 fresh criminal FIRs under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) apart from its regular operations against money launderers and hawala operatives in the said time period.
The total black money detected by FIU stands at Rs 7,848 crore during the last year, a senior Finmin official said who did not wish to be quoted.
The huge amount of black money could be detected during 2013-14, the official said, as the FIU witnessed an about 100 per cent jump in receiving the STRs at 61,953 dossiers as compared to a mere 31,731 STRs received by it during 2012-13.
The agency also received a total of 87,79,082 Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs), 3,01,804 Counterfeit Currency Reports (CCRs) and 80,616 Non-Profit Organisation Transaction Reports (NTRs), the latest updated report also submitted to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, said.
STR is defined as a transaction which gives rise to a reasonable suspicion that it may involve proceeds of a crime or appears to be made in circumstances of unjustified complexity or gives reasonable grounds to suspect that it may be linked to terrorist activities.
New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) In a move to stay competitive against rivals like Samsung and Xiaomi, domestic mobile handset maker Micromax is planning to rope in strategic investors on its board in the next 2-3 months, as part of its plans to expand product portfolio and services.
“Micromax is looking at beefing up investments in research and development of its products and services and so, getting a strategic investor on board makes sense,” sources said.
They added that the company is in discussions with potential partners and these kind of decisions “take time”.
“It will be a month or two before the company announces anything,” they said.
When contacted, a Micromax spokesperson said: “As a company policy, we do not comment on any market speculation.”
There have been speculations that Micromax is looking at raising as much as USD one billion from overseas investors, including Japan’s SoftBank, as it looks to invest in start-ups and bringing in innovative technology to defend its turf against rivals like Samsung and Xiaomi.
However, the company has stated that its founders will stay on.
Sources said though Micromax has the option of going in for listing but the Gurgaon-based Micromax is likely to opt in favour of “strategic partners” than an IPO.
In 2010, Micromax had filed for a public listing but later shelved its plans citing poor market conditions.
“The funding would also boost development of new products and technology as this could help Micromax differentiate itself in the crowded smartphone market,” the sources said.
Micromax’s investors include TA Associates, Sequoia Capital, Sandstone Capital and Madison India Capital.
According to research firm Canalys, Micromax overtook Samsung (20 per cent) as India’s largest handset vendor with 22 per cent of shipments in the October-December 2014 quarter.
The Korean firm has challenged the report.
Affordable handsets from homegrown firms, especially Micromax, is credited to have helped India become one of the fastest growing handset markets globally.
For smartphones too, affordably priced devices, especially those under Rs 10,000 are driving the boom in the market, making it the world’s third biggest market.
United Nations, Apr 26 (PTI) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today assured quake-hit Nepal that the world body will mount a major relief effort and support it in dealing with the humanitarian crisis.
Ban sent his deepest condolences to the Nepali government and to all those affected by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that jolted the country yesterday, killing nearly 2,000 people and injuring 5,000 others and said the UN will help the government in coordinating international?search and rescue operations.
“The reports of the devastation are still coming in and the numbers of people killed, injured and affected by this earthquake continue to rise,” Secretary-General Ban said in a statement.
“It is clear that very many lives have been lost. There has also been significant damage to Nepal’s irreplaceable cultural heritage. The United Nations is supporting the Government of Nepal in coordinating international?search and rescue operations and is preparing to mount?a major relief effort,” the UN Chief added.
The powerful quake razed to the ground a number of buildings, including the iconic Dharhara tower and the landmark Darbar Square – a UNESCO World Heritage site – in the heart of the capital, trapping scores of people.
The UN expressed concern over the massive number of people in hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley that are running out of room for storing dead bodies and also running short of emergency supplies.
UN field offices reported that the eastern region was not badly affected and that the Terai had been minimally affected.
The Nepali government has requested international assistance in the response to the disaster, with particular importance placed on the search and rescue capacity, medical teams, supplies and tenting for hospitals, heavy equipment for rubble removal and helicopters for transport and access to blocked areas.
President of the General Assembly, Sam Kutesa, also expressed his deep concern and sorrow over the devastation.
Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, Babatunde Osotimehin, also expressed his deepest sympathy to those affected by the earthquake, saying he was “shocked and saddened” by the deaths and disappearance of hundreds of people, as well as the widespread destruction and displacement caused by the disaster.
He added that the UNFPA stood ready to join international efforts to give assistance to the government and people of Nepal, expressing particular concern about the fate of pregnant women who have been affected by this tragedy, including those who might face potentially life-threatening complications.
All efforts will be exerted to support their safety and the safety of their babies, he said.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal early this morning, striking an area between Kathmandu and the city of Pokhara, with damage extending to India, Bangladesh, and Tibet. At the time of publication, nearly 1,000 people have died and more than 1,700 have been injured as a result of the earthquake, the BBC reports. In an attempt to aid rescue efforts, Google has once again opened up its Person Finder tool — a simple crowd-sourced missing persons database.
Google first launched the application in 2010, following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and has since deployed the tool several times after natural disasters. Person Finder gathers information from emergency responders and individual users who can enter information for a missing person or someone who has been found. At this time, around 1,300 records have been collected and that number will likely continue to grow throughout the day.
Yesterday at 11.56 am Nepal witnessed the deadliest tremor in centuries which scaled 7.5 Richter scale. The effect was felt in all the districts of Nepal.
The death toll so far has has reached 2000 till Sunday morning and still bodies are being recovered under debris.
The quake has damaged massive loss of property and houses. At least 7,00,000 lakh houses are fully or partially damaged. While most modern buildings remained standing after the quake, it brought down several buildings in the center of the capital as well as centuries-old temples and towers. Among them was the nine-story Dharahara Tower, a Kathmandu landmark built by Nepal’s royal rulers as a watchtower in the 1800s and a UNESCO-recognised historical monument. It was reduced to rubble and there were reports of people trapped underneath.
The Kathmandu Valley is listed as a World Heritage site. The Buddhist stupas, public squares and Hindu temples are some of the most well-known sites in Kathmandu, and now some of the most deeply mourned. Nepali journalist and author Shiwani Neupane tweeted: “The sadness is sinking in. We have lost our temples, our history, the places we grew up.”
India was quick to respond with relief materials being sent in Army helicopters. About 300 doctors are attending the injured. PM Modi has taken self initiative to help Nepal in this disastrous moment. Relief ametrails from other countries have already started pouring in the country. The United States and the European Union were among those to pledge assistance to the government of Nepal, as messages of support poured in from world leaders including China’s Xi Jinping, France’s Francois Hollande, Germany’s Angela Merkel and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The US is sending a disaster response team and has authorised an initial $1 million in aid to address immediate needs, the US Agency for International Development said. The European Union also said its humanitarian experts were heading to the crisis areas.
Nepal’s devastating earthquake was the disaster experts knew was coming.
Just a week ago, about 50 earthquake and social scientists from around the world came to Kathmandu, Nepal, to figure out how to get this poor, congested, overdeveloped, shoddily built area to prepare better for the big one, a repeat of the 1934 temblor that leveled this city. They knew they were racing the clock, but they didn’t know when what they feared would strike.
“It was sort of a nightmare waiting to happen,” said seismologist James Jackson, head of the earth sciences department at the University of Cambridge in England. “Physically and geologically what happened is exactly what we thought would happen.”
But he didn’t expect the massive quake that struck Saturday to happen so soon. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed nearly 1,400 and counting and caused widespread destruction.
“I was walking through that very area where that earthquake was and I thought at the very time that the area was heading for trouble,” said Jackson, lead scientist for Earthquakes Without Frontiers, a group that tries to make Asia more able to bounce back from these disasters and was having the meeting.
Hospitals across the impoverished nation of 28 million people struggled to cope with the dead and injured from Nepal’s worst quake in 81 years, and a lack of equipment meant rescuers could look no deeper than surface rubble for signs of life.
Ramesh Pokharel, a staff member of the Bhaktapur Hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu, said that around 50 bodies were lying in a field outside.
Doctors were treating patients in a makeshift tent next to the main building, and staff were too busy to count or register names of the casualties.
The recent Miley Cyrus television special on NBC was a vivid indicator of how far the 21-year-old pop singer has traveled. Watching it, it’s hard to process that a mere three years ago this was the star of Disney’s successful tween TV show Hannah Montana.
You’ve got to sympathize with the shenanigans of Cyrus if you — a presumed adult — ever sat through 30 minutes, let alone a Montana marathon, of Miley playing a “regular” teen by day who’s secretly a mega pop star by night. Like most Disney shows aimed at pre-adolescents, it’s remarkably goofy. And it gives an eye into the brand challenge that Cyrus and her team faced in trying to get from there to where she is now.
Cyrus elicits eye-rolls but she is certainly, if one is being honest, a talented, brazen performer who’s comfortable onstage.
If you’re 16 or under, you are likely already familiar with Hannah Montana. It made Cyrus‘s name and following. And if you’re the parent of a 16 or under, you too know the show and might have been pulled in when you realized, “Wait, isn’t that Billy Ray Cyrus playing Miley’s father?” But only for a few minutes.
Surprising to many, the two-hour special on NBC drew a lukewarm 2 million viewers despite plenty of promotion and a prime time slot. Maybe it would have done better on a Disney station. Cyrus elicits eye-rolls but she is certainly, if one is being honest, a talented, brazen performer who’s comfortable onstage. At least one longtime observer Sandra Graham, who’s worked with the likes of Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lopez and who owns Graham Communications, said she reminded her of Madonna.
Two hours of Cyrus “just going in her own direction,” as she said back in 2011 when she quit HM, was enough to make us think about how she took hold of our collective consciousness in the first place — pre-twerking, pre-nudity and pre-wrecking ball.
Read more: www.ozy.com
Returning writer-director Joss Whedon definitely does so, but takes a lazy approach to it by including thrills that his superheroes make light weight of. To be sure, ‘Age Of Ultron’ conveniently assumes that you have seen all the previous Marvel movies and jumps straight in to fictional East European country Sokovia where the sceptre is hidden. At this point, it would worth mentioning that inter-galactic gemstones and sceptres feature in the movie merely as catalysts to help our superheroes get into ‘avenging’ mode. The snow-caped landscape also provides the money shot of the movie featuring all the avengers in a single frame pretty early in the film.
There are also two new additions to the world of Avengers in the form of twins Piedro and Wanda Maximoff / Scarlett Witch (Aaron-Taylor Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) who are blessed with powers of super speed and telepathy and telekinesis respectively. When an entire army is given chase by the Avengers but these two twins are enough to hold them back you know worthy adversaries have been found.
But that’s before Ultron is born. According to Iron Man, Ultron is meant to be a shield for humanity from aliens who almost destroyed the world in the first part but a thinking droid can make his own choice of deciding how humanity needs to be saved. Ultron, thus, goes rogue in an effort to end humanity to make them evolve. However, Ultron also suffers from a complex and needs a body to be accepted by himself and by others. Voiced brilliantly by James Spader, Ultron is a rare anti-hero with his Frankenstein origins and twisted logic.
Whedon also repeats the best part of Avengers in the sequel – the witty banter between superheroes – and introduces new twists that fanboys will lap up greedily. It helps that aspects like Iron Man’s alter ego Jarvis and Thor’s hammer step up from being just accessories and play an important role in the film. Jarvis, especially, comes to represent all the positive traits of humans who are always looking to play god (here depicted by the mad genius of Tony Stark). It’s an interesting comparison because Ultron is the exact opposite of Jarvis as the movie’s climax makes amply clear.
Some might find the action in the movie excessive but the superheroes get down-time as well. Whedon skilfully peels the layers off his superheroes, revealing their frailties and making them more intimate with their fans. A surprising reveal is made about Clint Barton/ Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) while Natasha/ Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johannsson) origins are shown as well. Natasha’s efforts to kindle a romance between herself and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) while trying to keep the Hulk in check forms is noteworthy as well. Actors such as Samuel L Jackson, Don Cheadle and Stellan Skarshard appear in short cameos to reprise their roles from previous Marvel movies.
While most Indian men brag after a date, this man from Chennai has been a dating spree with 110 dates, in just 4 months starting from 1st January 2015, and plans to do a total of 365 dates before the year ends.
This super achiever of a date expert is Sunder Ramu is a Chennai-based actor and photographer.
He has set a rule that the woman he dates, should pay for the meal. They can cook for him too. And women from different fields have taken him out on a date.To be dating so many women without spending a single penny! Well, he saves money for a greater cause, which is providing a day’s meal for an NGO every month.
Some experiences of Sunder Ramu on a date
How Does He Set Up The Dates?
“It’s mostly people I know. I always approach strangers face to face, and a lot of them now ask me on Facebook.”
The oldest woman he went on a date with was a 105-year-old granny from a village near Pondicherry. And the most adventurous date was when a journalist took him sailing! Here’s a photo blog of some of the many women who took our man out on a date.
“I feel so loved and reenergized about people. It’s difficult to pick one because everyone is putting in a of thought n effort into the meals.”
He also went on a date with Chandra, who works as a sweeper. She made a home-cooked lunch for him, and they ate the meal sitting under the shade of trees in the apartment compound where Sunder resides. The mother of three was thrilled to share a meal with a man she had seen on television, and apologized for not wearing anything fancy.
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