Although the woman’s family members claimed that police were approached in this regard, officials at Barra police station said they were not aware of any such matter. (Source: ANI photo)
A woman refused to tie the knot with a man in Kanpur because he failed to get a toilet built at his residence in time for the wedding, agreeing instead to a match with another suitor who had a toilet at home.
Facilitated by a local NGO, the match between the 25-year-old woman hailing from Lucknow and the man was finalised after he agreed to her demand for a toilet to be ready at his house by the date of the wedding, which was to be organised as part of a mass ceremony on Sunday.
However, the woman, who has completed high school education, on Saturday called off the wedding after she found that the toilet had not been built, the NGO said. The woman’s family members backed her decision to not marry the man over the lack of a toilet at his residence, they added.
Although the woman’s family members claimed that police were approached in this regard, officials at Barra police station said they were not aware of any such matter. The NGO, after hearing about the woman’s stand against marrying if there was no toilet at her future husband’s place, found another match for her and she gave her consent for the same as there was a toilet at the new suitor’s residence. -
See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/no-toilet-in-grooms-house-kanpur-woman-refuses-to-tie-knot-2757870/#sthash.F2ZUOmKp.dpuf
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
GM crops: What do the new rules mean?
By Helen BriggsEnvironment correspondent, BBC News
The European Parliament has approved new rules on GM crops, designed to break the stalemate between pro and anti-GM countries.
The legislation will give governments more power to decide whether to grow GM crops, after years of deadlock.
Some
see the move as "a victory for common sense". Others warn it may prove
detrimental, by undermining innovation and the single market.
Only one GM crop - a type of maize used for animal feed - is grown commercially in the EU.
There
have been no new GM crops approved since 1998, apart from a type of GM
potato, which was withdrawn, as countries opposed to GM have been able
to block Europe-wide approval.
Under the new legislation, agreed on Tuesday in
Strasbourg, any new GM crops in the pipeline would still go through the
European risk approval process.
Once deemed safe, individual
countries would be able to decide for themselves whether to plant them.
But experts are divided on whether it will lead to the planting of fewer
or more GM crops in Europe.
Innovation concerns
Prof Huw Jones of Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire, which carries out research on GM crops, described the vote as "a step forward".
"As
a scientist who uses GM as a research tool, I think it's a step
forward, it's a step in the right direction because it could engage the
big biotech companies in Europe again," he says.
But some warn that the move is a "stop sign for innovation in Europe".
"Member
states will receive a licence to ban safe products which have been
approved at European level, and they will be allowed to base these bans
on non-scientific grounds," says Jeff Rowe, chairman of the Agri-Food
Council of Europabio, the European Association for Bioindustries.
"This
sets a dangerous precedent for the internal market and sends a negative
signal to innovative industries considering investing in Europe."
Practical hurdles
Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association,
says that countries wishing to grow GM crops face "a huge risk".
Political leaders in Scotland and Wales are opposed to GM crops and can
now ban them from the fields, despite the crop being cleared on health
and safety grounds at the EU level.
"It will help Scotland and
Wales consolidate their opposition to GMOs by banning them," he says.
"In England it's unclear because there are currently no GM crops that
could be grown in England and it's not clear if any will be developed,
but what is clear is there is still no demand for GM food from
supermarkets and others in England."
Friends of the Earth
campaigner Clare Oxborrow says while the decision is "good news" for
nations like Scotland and Wales, it is a "double-edged sword that could
open the door to GM crops being grown in England".
The new rules
also raise practical questions, such as how to deal with land borders in
neighbouring countries, and whether companies will be willing to spend
hundreds of millions on regulatory requirements when not all nations
will buy them.
GM crops are used widely in the US and Asia, but
nine countries have opposed their cultivation in the EU (Austria,
Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg and
Poland).
For some EU nations, GMO foods are seen as a potential
threat to the reputation of its agricultural produce, while in others,
ministers argue it is an essential technology to feed a growing world
population.
At least 50 ISIS fighters killed in Syria’s Kobane
Members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) walk
past an area damaged by what activists said was a car blown up by a suicide
bomber loyal to ISIS in Kobane. (File photo: Reuters)
Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Sunday, 30 November
2014
At least 50 Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group jihadists have been
killed in the past 24 hours in clashes, suicide bombings and U.S.-led air
strikes in Syria’s Kobane, Agence France-Presse reported a monitor as saying
Sunday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described number of
deaths as one of the highest daily tolls for the Sunni Muslim extremist group
since it launched an assault on the strategic town on the Turkish border in
September.
Meanwhile, a U.S.-led coalition on Saturday carried out at least 30 air
strikes in Syria against ISIS in the northern province of Raqqa, the Observatory
reported.
The air strikes hit ISIS positions in the northern outskirts of Raqqa city, a
major stronghold of the hardline Islamist militants.
The areas hit by the strikes included the 17th Division, a Syrian army base
that ISIS seized in July, the Observatory said.
Fighting in Aleppo
In a related story, fighting between rebels and government’s forces continued
in Aleppo, Syria's second city and former industrial powerhouse.
A Syrian woman and her three sons were killed overnight by rebel fire in the
government-held side of Aleppo, the Observatory reported.
The woman and
her children were killed when a homemade rocket fired from the rebel-held east
of the city hit their home around midnight in the Ashrafiyeh
district.
The Britain-based monitor said rebels were firing homemade
explosive devices often using gas canisters that were even more damaging than
regular mortar fire.
Aleppo has been divided between rebel control in the
east and regime control in the west since shortly after fighting began there in
mid-2012.
Since the end of 2013, the Syrian air force has regularly
dropped explosive-packed “barrel bombs,” which rights groups criticize as
particularly indiscriminate, on the rebel east and surrounding
province.
The barrel bomb attacks have killed several thousand people in
Aleppo province, according to the Observatory.
In recent months, rebels
have intensified their mortar attacks on the government-held west of the city,
killing nearly 300 people in four months, the group said.
Photographer Paul Souders comes face to face with walruses in Norway
American wildlife photographer Paul Souders went on a three week-long sea expedition off one of the world's most remote and northern islands - Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, Norway - to photograph walruses.
Each blubbery sea beast can weigh up to one and a half tons - the same as a small truck - and is armed with foot-long tusks. Walruses use their huge tusks for fighting other walruses, defence against whales and sharks and hauling their fat-laden bodies on and off their ice platforms.
"As the pack ice recedes in summer, the walruses haul out onto gravel beaches, sometimes in massive belching, farting and fighting piles," says Paul. "When they're not resting and sleeping onshore, most will swim out from shore to their shallow feeding grounds. From here they dive and feed on mollusks on the ocean floor. They also love their beachside naps and like the rest of us - they hate to be disturbed."
Paul says that working with such large and unpredictable creatures is not without its dangers - and sometimes his only protection was his £8,000 worth of camera equipment. "The first time I slid off the iceberg into the water, my pulse was racing, my teeth were chattering," Paul said. One of the walruses took notice and swam over, doing a slow, cautious pass beneath me. Then he swam right up to the dome of my underwater camera. I finally had to give him a little shove to push him back. I took a couple of good head butts- where the guys back on my boat could hear a loud "clack" from ivory on my glass dome."
"The water is ice-cream-headache-inducingly cold - your lips will turn blue and go instantly numb," says Paul. "It's an incredibly vulnerable feeling, floating in ice water and facing off against a set of tusks and a beast that weighs more than my car. It puts me in my place - flailing around in an awkward dry suit and with the safety line wrapped around your neck, you are completely at their mercy...
"...I do wonder what is says about me that I'm drawn to the coldest, bleakest, more expensive, lonely and remote destinations on Earth!"
A walrus on sea ice near Wahlberg Island in Svalbard
Walruses swimming together underwater off the Tiholmane Islands
A walrus sleeping on sea ice near Wahlberg Island in Svalbard
A walrus swimming underwater off the Tiholmane Islands in Svalbard
A walrus splashing in the shallow sea off Lagoya Island
Walruses sparring in shallow waters off Lagoya Island in Svalbard, Norway
A walrus on sea ice near Kapp Lee in midnight sun on Edgeoya Island
A walrus swims underwater off the Tiholmane Islands
Walruses swimming together underwater off the Tiholmane Islands
When a Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 295 people went down over Ukraine on Thursday, it marked the second tragedy involving the airline in just a few months.
In March, another Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. That plane still has not been found.
In light of these incidents, American Pie star Jason Biggs, now appearing in Netflix’sOrange Is the New Black, took to Twitter to make the following joke about the airline, and soon found himself on the receiving end of several hate-filled tweets.
Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?
He also retweeted some users who defended his comments, including one praising his ability to keep a sense of humor amidst tragedy and one wondering why people are upset since he “didn’t joke about the deaths,” he “joked about not wanting to fly on that airline.”
Thursday evening, Biggs issued an apology in a series of tweets:
"1). Hey all- ok, so- I am deleting my previous tweets. People were offended, and that was not my intent. Sorry to those of you that were."
"2). This is obviously a horrible tragedy, and everyone-including myself- is sad and angry about it. Sending positive thoughts to the…"
”3). victims and their families. P.S. No one is making me send these tweets- I simply understand that my comments might have come off…”
"4). as insensitive and ill-timed. For that, I apologize."
https://uk.yahoo.com/movies/jason-biggs-slammed-for-malaysian-airlines-jokes-92124796991.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A man goes into a library and asks for a book on suicide.
The librarian says, "Fuck off, you won't bring it back."
A strange mystery monster creature - Lord Of The Rings character Gollum, was photographed by a Chinese Tourist near Huairou, Beijing.
The Gollum-like mystery beast's images were posted on the internet quickly after it was spotted by the Chinese camping tourist in the mountains.
Is this an alien, a prank, or some new human hybrid creature?
So what's the deal with this creature that was caught on tape?
A Chinese Tourist was camping with friends outside of Beijing [Huairou, Beijing] when he spotted something mysterious in the woods
He snuck over and snapped some photos before escaping in fear.
The tourist then uploaded the creepy images of the Gollum-like creature from Lord of the Rings to the internet to get some help in learning the origins of his discovery.
He was quoted saying "I walked far away to have a pee, and suddenly saw a monster. I took a few pictures of it, but I am now terrified by my courage then."
A comment on the photo later revealed that this creature was just an sci-fi actor who wrote "Over the weekend I and my friends went to the mountains to take a mini sci-fi film. And when I was having a pee a person popped up and took pictures of me and shot away."
*Well, I was disappointed to find that out that this really wasn't a real-life Gollum, but that's how a lot of these bizarre creature mysteries end.
Russia's deputy defence minister says US evidence 'mostly cited social networks' and did not correspond to reality
ByTom Parfitt,Moscow
7:02PM BST 24 Jul 2014
Russia suggested on Thursday that the United States was trying to fabricate evidence that separatists in eastern Ukraine shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
Anatoly Antonov, deputy defence minister, said Washington's claims that pro-Russian rebels fired a missile that hit the plane on July 17 "mostly cited social networks" and did not correspond to reality.
Alexander Yakovenko, Russia's ambassador to Britain, also poured scorn on the widespread belief that Moscow is supplying the rebels, saying: "Russia doesn't supply weapons to local de facto (separatist) authorities in eastern Ukraine" and that "no evidence whatsoever has been presented that the Russian government has been doing this".
The ambassador's comment came after a Nato source told Reuters news agency the alliance was seeing a rising flow of arms into the conflict zone from Russia.
Mr Antonov said US intelligence experts had claimed they could "prove the guilt of the [pro-Russian] militia and almost Russia itself" and were in possession of technical data and satellite photographs to back up their accusation.
"So where is this evidence?" he asked on the Rossiya-24 channel. "Why is it not presented to the public? Is it, if I may say so, still being finished off?"
Barack Obama, the US president, said earlier this week that MH17 was brought down by a surface-to-air missile that was fired from "territory that is controlled by Russian separatists". Samantha Powers, US ambassador to the UN, went further adding "we cannot rule out technical assistance from Russian personnel in operating the systems".
US intelligence officials appeared to backtrack somewhat later, saying they had no definitive evidence about who exactly fired the missile, or about Russian involvement. However, the officials said it was implausible that Ukrainian forces fired the missile, and they still believed the separatists were likely to blame.
An armed pro-Russian separatist guards a crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (Reuters)
Also on Thursday, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine's prime minister resigned after parliament's governing coalition collapsed. New elections to the chamber are expected to be held in October or November.
"I announce my resignation in connection with the dissolution of the parliamentary coalition and the blocking of government initiatives," a furious Mr Yatsenyuk told parliament.
Mr Yatsenyuk said the "government and the prime minister must resign" after several parties pulled out of the European Choice parliamentary majority.
The pro-Western Mr Yatsenyuk – who has helped steer the country through upheaval since the ouster of Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych in February – lashed out at the decision to pull the plug on the coalition as Kiev is struggling to end a bloody separatist insurrection tearing apart the east.
Ukrainian forces have made advances against pro-Russian separatists in the east of in recent days, but the rebels still control the large cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
A piece of the wreckage is seen at a crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (Reuters)
In Holland, more planes arrived carrying a further 51 unidentified bodies from the MH17 crash, which killed all 298 people on board.
The Dutch Safety Board (DSB), which is in charge of investigating the crash, said that it had successfully extracted data from the aircraft's flight data recorder, or "black box", for analysis. The recorder had not been tampered with, the DSB said.
Alexander Khodakovsky, leader of the rebels' Vostok battalion, admitted on Wednesday that the separatists had a Buk missile system, the launcher thought to be fired by mistake at the Malaysian Airlines jet, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
However, Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, denied on Thursday that the rebels had such a weapon in an interview with the BBC.
Although the woman’s family members claimed that police were approached in this regard, officials at Barra police station said they were not aware of any such matter. (Source: ANI photo)
An armed pro-Russian separatist guards a crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (Reuters)