Keep ego in check to make Lok Adalat successful: Justice Dave

The Lok Adalat, being organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), is aimed at disposing of lakhs of cases. Last year, around 71 lakh cases were settled in the first National Lok Adalat held on November 23.

Inaugurating the Lok Adalat, which will also take place in apex court, Justice Dave said it is the best way to resolve disputes as both the fighting parties come to a mutually acceptable solution and they do not have to wait for years to get their cases decided in court.
  
"This method is the best way to resolve the dispute. It is fast and less expensive. Relation between the litigants does not get strained and they remain cordial as they mutually agree to dissolve the dispute," he said, adding, "People need to have a big heart and keep their ego under control to get the dispute resolved in Lok Adalat".
  
He said this form of dispute resolution has been very successful even since it came into existence since March 14, 1982 when the first Lok Adalat was set up at Una in Junagadh district of Gujarat.
  
In the Supreme Court, three Lok Adalat benches will sit and 53 cases, including matrimonial disputes and motor accident compensation claims, will be taken up for disposal.
  
The programme will be viewed all over the country through video conferencing and web casting. A large number of criminal compoundable cases, cheque bounce and bank recovery cases, civil suits motor accident claims and family matters will be taken up during the National Lok Adalat.
  
Apart from these, in many states, revenue matters, land acquisition references, consumer matters, service and labour matters will also be taken up for the amicable settlements.
  
Besides the Lok Adalat, a large number of petty criminal cases will also be taken up on Saturday by special sittings of magistrates and judges.

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Sadhvi remark: P J Kurien asks Opposition parties, government to end logjam

Kurien adjourned the House for the day at about 3.15 PM after it failed to transact any business for the fourth consecutive day today with an agitated opposition insisting on the sacking of the Minister.

"Leaders of the opposition parties and government should sit together and work out a solution by Monday. The Chair cannot take a decision," Kurien, who was in the Chair, observed.

His observations came after the House witnessed four adjournments before the Chair called it a day as opposition uproar continued over the demand and members insisted on a resolution to condemn the Sadhvi's remarks.

"There is an impasse between the government and the opposition and as long as this issue is not resolved we will not allow the House to run," said Deputy Leader of Opposition Anand Sharma when Kurien pleaded that private members' bill be taken up.

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Form judicial commission to avert shutdown: Imran Khan to Sharif government

Delivering a speech in Islamabad on Friday, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief said he would shutdown Faisalabad on December 8 unless a judicial commission is formed to look into the elections, Dawn online reported Saturday.

"If the government wants to avert the shutting down of the major cities as well as the country, it must form a judicial commission to probe rigging in the May 2013 elections," he said"Unless the terms of references for the judicial commission are not finalised, Plan C (to shutdown Faisalabad) will remain intact," he added.

"If the judicial commission clears the government, I will accept it," he said. "But if rigging is proved, the government will have to go," the report quoted Khan as saying.

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Over 500,000 evacuated in Philippines as typhoon approaches

The department of the interior and local government conducted the forced evacuation in the face of approaching Hagupit, according to Corazon Soliman, secretary of the department of social welfare and development.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the typhoon is expected to make landfall on Saturday evening over the Eastern or Northern Samar provinces in central Philippines, Chinese media reported.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director Alexander Pama said authorities will keep alerting though Hagupit has slightly weakened.

Hagupit's maximum sustained winds dropped to 195 km per hour from the previous 215 km per hour, according to the data released by PAGASA on Friday.

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India's forex reserves up USD 1.43 billion

The reserves had fallen by USD 672.4 million to USD 314.87 billion in the week ended November 21. According to the RBI's weekly statistical supplement, foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, rose USD 1.42 billion at USD 290.82 billion in the week under review.

The foreign currency assets had declined USD 664.3 million at USD 289.39 billion in the previous week (November 21).

The RBI said the foreign currency assets, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve.

India's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was up USD 2.5 million to USD 1.52 billion. The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) was higher by USD 6.4 million at USD 4.22 billion.

The value of gold reserves which was static since October 3 at USD 20.01 billion and had declined by 275 million at USD 19.73 billion for the week ended October 31, stayed the same in the week ended November 21.

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Assocham seeks PM's intervention on gas supply cut for Gujarat units

"Several of them are involved in exports of glass and ceramic products to western markets. They were set up here at the invitation of the government to utilize low pressure gas from isolated fields," said a letter sent by Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat, seeking Prime Minister's intervention.
  
It claimed that the action by Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) to cut supply of APM gas by 58 percent to 33 units has put 30,000 direct and 1.2 lakh indirect jobs at stake, since non-availability of gas is forcing these units to shut shop.
  
A 58 percent reduction in gas supply has been in effect since September this year, affecting these 33 manufacturing units in the region.
  
Based on Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) guidelines, GAIL took the decision to curtail APM gas supplies to these units to meet demands of CNG consumers.
  
In its letter, Assocham also stated that the decision to cut the supply of cheap APM gas by 58 percent to these units, is contrary to the spirit of the PM's 'Make In India' programme.
  
"While on one hand the government is committed to increase jobs and get foreign investment, on the other hand, the decision to cut gas supply impacts the viability of units contributing to the nation," the letter said.
  
The South Gujarat Small Gas Consumers' Association (SGSGCA) has been raising this issue at different fora ever since GAIL imposed the cut.
  
Assocham claimed that the 33 units consume only 1 percent of the total APM gas allocation of 60 million metric standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD). Thus, if there is a shortage of gas and a cut in supply is inevitable, Assocham suggested "a uniform cut of 0.5 percent across the board" on the total domestic gas supply of 60 MMSCMD.
  
"Alternatively, the cut should be implemented first in the non-priority sector represented by steel, petrochemicals, and refineries," Assocham's letter said.

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Nanowires may combat cell damage, ageing in humans

This breakthrough can help develop drugs that prevent ageing, cardiac disorders, and several neurological problems like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Vanadium oxide or vanadia is a form of vanadium, an element found close to titanium on the periodic table.
  
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are produced during normal cellular metabolism. When the level of ROS is elevated, normal redox state of cells is disturbed, leading to damage of cellular components, including proteins, lipids, and DNA.
  
Oxidative stress caused by ROS is responsible for various conditions ranging from a simple premature greying of hair to serious diseases like cancer, diabetes, arthritis, ageing and kidney disorders.
  
"Many of the antioxidant-based drugs used to control ROS, also produce ROS, though at small proportions. So we wanted to concentrate on a mechanism that mimics the natural detoxification pathways," say Prof G Mugesh and Patrick D'Silva, who led the research team.
  
In a paper published in Nature Communications, they have shown that vanadia nanowires actually mimic a natural antioxidant enzyme, according to a Gubbi Labs release.
  
ROS are helpful when their concentrations are optimal. They help in numerous biochemical reactions and act as critical secondary messengers in signalling pathways. They are also essential for the normal metabolism of the human body.
  
"The human body has numerous mechanisms to scavenge ROS, and specifically hydrogen peroxide. However, when people are suffering from a disease, the production of ROS shoots up, and the natural scavenging mechanisms are not able to cope with. In such cases, we may have to control ROS levels artificially," says D'Silva.

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High-sugar diet in fathers can lead to obese offspring

Research has shown that various factors that are passed on by parents or are present in the uterine environment can affect offspring's metabolism and body type.

Investigators led by Dr J Andrew Pospisilik, of the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Germany, and team member Dr Anita Ost, now at Linkoping University in Sweden, sought to understand whether normal fluctuations in a parent's diet might have such an impact on the next generation.

Through mating experiments in Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit flies, the scientists found that dietary interventions in males could change the body composition of offspring, with increased sugar leading to obesity in the next generation.   

High dietary sugar increased gene expression through epigenetic changes, which affect gene activity without changing the DNA's underlying sequence.

"To use computer terms, if our genes are the hardware, our epigenetics is the software that decides how the hardware is used," said Ost.

"It turns out that the father's diet reprogrammes the epigenetic 'software' so that genes needed for fat production are turned on in their sons," said Ost.

Because epigenetic programmes are somewhat plastic, the investigators suspect that it might be possible to reprogramme obese epigenetic programmes to lean epigenetic programmes.

"At the moment, we and other researchers are manipulating the epigenetics in early life, but we don't know if it is possible to rewrite an adult programme," said Ost.

The research was published in the Cell Press journal Cell.

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How our grip strength changes as we age

A new study has now shed new light on how grip strength changes across the lifespan. The latest research combined data from 12 British studies and included grip strength readings from 49,964 participants, aged four to 90 years and above, and combined them to produce reference charts.

"We found that men were typically stronger than women from adolescence onwards but both men and women reached a peak level of strength during their 30s before becoming weaker with age," said Richard Dodds from University of Southampton.

Earlier studies showed that people with weaker grip strength in midlife are more likely to develop problems like loss of independence and to have shorter life expectancy. But very little was known on what might be considered a normal grip strength at different ages.

"We are now clear about the range of normal strength in young adults and have used this information to propose levels below which an older person would be considered to have weak grip strength," Dodds pointed out.

Hospital doctors could use the information to help interpret measurements of grip strength."Grip strength has been recommended for the assessment of muscle strength in the clinical setting and this study will aid the recognition of important conditions such as sarcopenia and frailty," noted Avan Aihie Sayer, professor of geriatric medicine at University of Southampton.

The study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.

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Ali Fazal gears up for his last act on stage

Ali started his career as a theater artist with a play titled 'A Guy Thing', written and directed by American writer Michael Puzzo.

The play will celebrate its silver jubilee here on Thursday, and Ali will reprise the role of Lino for the last time. Ali debuted on the big screen with a small role in Rajkumar Hirani's '3 Idiots', and went on to do 'Fukrey' and 'Bobby Jasoos', in which he played actress Vidya Balan's love interest.

The actor will also be seen in the action packed 'Furious 7'.

"I started my career as a theater artist and this play is very special to me as Raju Hirani spotted me while performing this play,”  the actor said in a statement.

"In short, 'A Guy Thing' got me my first film. I am glad the play is ending on such a happy note and I am here to witness it and be a part of it," the actor said in a statement.

The play also features actor Neil Bhoopalam. A string of Bollywood celebrities are expected to come for Ali's last stage performance including Vidya, Dia Mirza, Mahesh Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt and Richa Chadha.

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First look: Akshay Kumar unveils poster of 'Baby'

Akshay took to Twitter to unveil the first look poster. "Only for you! Check out the new #Baby look before the world sees it tmw. 24 hrs to go for the #BabyTrailer," he tweeted along with the poster.

The thing to look out is Akshay's new and dapper look with a moustache.

'Baby' will see Akshay Kumar reunite with 'Special 26' fame director Neeraj Pandey.

Akshay had ealier posted the trailer of his flick on Twitter. "Here's the #BabySizzle a sneak peak for what awaits! First look launches on #3December," the actor had tweeted.

The 47-year-old, who is known for his daredevil stunts will be seen doing the usual with ease in the film.

"I loved working with Neeraj on #BabyTheFilm and want you to see all the action up close #BabySizzle at 12 pm," he wrote further.

The film also features Rana Daggubati, Anupam Kher and Danny Denzongpa and is scheduled to release on January 23, 2015.

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Bollywood actor Deven Varma passes away in Pune

Varma started his acting career as a stage artist and eventually made his Bollywood debut with a supporting role in Yash Chopra's 'Dharmputra' in 1961, which did not do well.

He shot to fame with his performance in 1975 film 'Chori Mera Kaam', which bagged him his first Filmfare Award for Best Comedian.

Varma went on to star in memorable films like 'Chor Ke Ghar Chor', Sanjeev Kapoor-starrer 'Angoor', 'Gol Maal', 'Khatta Meetha', 'Naastik', 'Rang Birangi', 'Dil', 'Judaai', 'Andaz Apna Apna' and 'Dil Toh Pagal Hai'.   

His dual role of Bahadur in Gulzar's 1982 film 'Angoor', is considered as one of the most loved comic roles in Hindi cinema.

Varma, who was married to Ashok Kumar's daughter Rupa Ganguly, turned producer with 'Yakeen' in 1969 and also took to direction two years later with 'Nadaan'. He produced and directed Amitabh Bachchan-starrer 'Besharam' in 1978.

He also acted in Marathi and Bhojpuri films.
  
Known as a man of principles, he had consistently refused to act in roles that demanded poking fun on handicapped and physically compromised people, earning respect in the film industry.

He retired from films after working in 'Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai' and 'Calcutta Mail'.

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'I wanted to teach a lesson to Gauhar'

"If actresses stop wearing short clothes, crime will decrease." For all those hoping that awareness of women's rights would have increased after the incessant media coverage and commentary following repeated incidents of rapes and violence against women, this one statement by the man who slapped Gauahar Khan would probably send them into the depths of despair.

Malik's seeming disregard for the feelings of others, and so smug is he about his notions of morality, that he told the police after his arrest that he had slapped Gauahar to teach her a lesson so that she would never wear short skirts in her life.

Malik said that he had slapped Gauahar to help other youths like him. He claimed that since he was sexually attracted to girls who wear short skirts, other youths could too. He told the police that girls wearing short clothes "damage the brains" of youngsters and instigate them to commit crimes.

Malik, a junior artist, had been attending the shooting for the reality show 'India's Raw Star', which was anchored by Gauahar, for three days before slapping her during the shooting for the finale in Film City on Sunday.

Malik claimed he had tried to control himself for three days despite seeing Gauahar wear short clothes but couldn't take it anymore and slapped her in front of 2,500 audience members and 250 bouncers.

He said he had tried to make Gauahar "understand" that wearing short clothes was against their religion but had slapped her when the argument began to get heated. "He had been attending the shooting for a few days and said he didn't like the clothes Gauahar was wearing.

He said short skirts got him attracted to girls and damaged other youngsters' minds as well," said a police officer from Aarey police station. In his statement to the police, Malik said, "Actresses are the face of society and they should not wear skirts and short clothes as they make youngsters get attracted to them sexually.

These days, boys who are minors are also committing crimes such as rape and molestation and many of them keep obscene photographs of actresses in their pockets. If actresses stop wearing short clothes, crime will decrease and lead to a better society."

"Malik came to Mumbai in August from Abu Dhabi, where he was working as a waiter. He was working as a driver in Mumbai and also took up work as a junior artiste on a part-time basis. He dreamt of becoming an actor," said a police official.

Senior Inspector Vilas Chavan of Aarey police station said, "The accused, Malik, didn't like seeing girls in skirts and said that they attracted him and other youth to them sexually. He claimed he slapped the actress because she was wearing skirts in shootings for the last few days. We produced him in Borivli court and he was remanded in police custody till Thursday."

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NASA launching new Orion spacecraft on test flight

The new Orion spacecraft is not going to Mars just yet; Thursday's debut will be unmanned and last just 4½ hours. But it will be the farthest a built-for-humans capsule has flown since the Apollo moon missions, shooting 3,600 miles out into space in order to gain enough momentum to re-enter the atmosphere at a scorching 20,000 mph (32,000 kph).

The dry run, if all goes well, will end with a Pacific splashdown off Mexico's Baja coast. Navy ships will recover the capsule, a la Apollo, for future use.

This initial Orion is rigged with 1,200 sensors to gauge its durability for the day when astronauts do climb aboard during the decade ahead. Advertised destinations include an asteroid to be corralled in lunar orbit for human exploration in the 2020s, followed by Mars in the 2030s.

Lockheed Martin Corp. built the capsule and is staging the USD 370 million test flight for NASA.

Orion is NASA's first new spacecraft for humans in more than a generation, succeeding the now-retired space shuttles. Unlike the capsules under development by two US Companies for space station crew transport, Orion is meant for the long haul, both in time and space; it would be supplemented with habitats for potential Mars trips.

"We need a spacecraft that's going to be sturdy enough and robust enough" to carry astronauts well beyond low-Earth orbit for weeks and months at a time, said Lockheed Martin's Bryan Austin, a former NASA shuttle flight director who will oversee Orion's maiden voyage.

For this orbital tryout, a Delta IV rocket will hoist Orion from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:05 am (1205 GMT), just after sunrise. The rocket, with Orion and its launch escape tower at the tiptop, stretches 242 feet (73 meters) high.

Future Orion launches will use the mega rocket still under development by NASA, known as SLS or Space Launch System. The first Orion-SLS launch is targeted for 2018, unmanned, followed by the first piloted mission in 2021.

No one at NASA is pleased with such a poky pace. At best, it will be seven years before astronauts fly Orion anywhere.

By comparison, it took eight years from the time President John Kennedy announced his intentions of landing a man on the moon before John Glenn had even rocketed into orbit to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's lunar boot prints in 1969.

Given the present budget situation, "it is what it is," said Kennedy Space Center's director Robert Cabana, a former astronaut. And the presidential election ahead could bring further delays and uncertainties.

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Vegetable oil component helps combat gastric ulcers

The findings could lead to new treatment for gastric diseases."Current Helicobacter pylori bacterium treatments are facing a major challenge - antibiotic resistance," said Liangfang Zhang, professor at the University of California' San Diego School of Medicine.

"Our goal was to develop a nanotherapeutic that can tolerate the harsh gastric environment, kill H pylori and avoid resistance," Zhang added.

To combat the infection caused by Helicobacter pylori the researchers developed LipoLLA, a therapeutic nanoparticle that contains the vegetable oil component linolenic acid.

In mice, LipoLLA was safe and more effective against the infection than standard antibiotic treatments.

What is more, LipoLLA was not toxic to the mice and the bacteria did not develop resistance to the therapy.

"This is the first step to verify that we can make this therapeutic nanoparticle and demonstrate that it works to reduce H pylori colonisation.

We are now working to further enhance the particle, making it more stable and more effective," Zhang said. The findings appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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I wish to work with Big B: Prabhudheva

"I want to work with Amitabh sir. I don't know when that is going to happen. I didn't tell sir about this though I have met him before. It's my dream to work with him. I've loved all his films and I'm a huge fan of Amitabh and Rajinikanth sir," Prabhudheva said.

Busy promoting his forthcoming film "Action Jackson", starring Sonakshi Sinha, Yami Gautam and Manasvi Mamgai, Prabhudheva says each of the actresses have important roles in the film.

"In this film, I've roped in three actresses and it was kind of them to accept this offer. When I narrated the story, I made it very clear that there are going to be three actresses and nobody questioned me and just said 'yes'. It's very sweet of them and all three of them have important roles in the film," he said. The film is slated for release December 5.

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Fault In Our Stars' Hindi remake delayed

The film is ought to have Deepika Padukone and Varun Dhawan playing as the leading actors.

Where Deepika is presently busy with 'Piku' and later with 'Bajirao Mastani', Varun Dhawan has 'Badlapur' in his list for now. He is scheduled to follow it up with brother Rohit Dhawan's next.

So, when the two stars will find time for the Hindi remake of 'The Fault In Our Stars' remains a mystery. The movie, however, was slated to roll by March 2015.

After the tight schedule of the actors, it is heard that the makers have pushed the date a tad further.

The Fault In Our Stars showcased story of a young girl suffering from cancer who decides to attend
a Cancer Support Group. Destiny takes a turn after she meets a young boy who too has suffered from cancer and the duo fall in love.

Its Hindi remake is said to have a twist as the serious drama will be blended with humour.

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