Laptops to be Samajwadi Party's anniversary gift to students

LUCKNOW: UP chief minister AkhileshYadav is set to mark his first year in power by distributing free laptops to students who passed their intermediate examination last year during the anniversary week celebrations of his government from March 10 to 15. Free laptops were promised by Akhilesh as a poll sop for the youth.

In the first phase, 10,000 laptops will be distributed in Lucknow and Mainpuri districts to students from government and government-aided schools. Set to cost the state government a total of Rs 2,800 crore, laptops will be embossed with tamper-proof stickers of Akhilesh and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

It's not laptop alone that the students will get as 'gift'. The machines will be loaded with an open source operating system (Ubuntu) apart from Windows 7 Home Basic. The systems will also come pre-loaded with MS Office software, a specially designed computer literacy programme for first-time users, spreadsheets, multimedia and cloud computing among other things. A special software, designed by the British Council, will have 'How to Learn English', along with 'Hindi to English' and 'English to Hindi' dictionaries. The students will also have access to a photo gallery, movie maker software, photosynth and an editing software.

In another student-friendly initiative, the laptops will be pre-loaded with sample papers of engineering and medical entrance test papers of AIEEE, IIT-JEE, AIIMS, BITS, NIFT, PMT and CLAT. The laptops will come with webcam, blue tooth, wi-fi compatibility, DVD writer and a media reader. Users will have three language options- Hindi, English and Urdu.

Over 15 lakh units are to be distributed over the next seven months. A call centre will be set up in Lucknow with service centres in every district to cater to the beneficiaries. "The service centres will be made operational before the distribution begins," a senior UPEC official said.

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Businessman Dennis Tito Financing Manned Mission to Mars

Jane J. Lee

An announcement this week that a group led by the world's first space "tourist," Dennis Tito, plans to send a manned mission to flyby Mars in 2018 has lit up the Internet.

A press advisory from the new group, the Inspiration Mars Foundation, made no mention about whether there would be humans onboard.

But reports from NewSpace Journal say that there will be two crew members making the journey.

The Inspiration Mars Foundation, founded by Tito, plans to start its mission in January 2018, taking advantage of a rare launch window. Earth and Mars will be aligned in such a way that a trip that would normally take between two to three years would last about a year and a half, or 501 days.

The next such opportunity will occur in 2031, according to a Scientific American blog post.

Tito's foundation will hold a press conference on February 27 in Washington, presumably to offer more details about the trip.

The National Geographic Society is in talks with Inspiration Mars Foundation about a potential partnership around the 2018 mission.

The man behind the private Mars push is no stranger to the red planet.

In 2001 Tito paid $20 million to become the first "tourist" to rocket into space. He spent six days on the International Space Station. (Related: "7 Ways You Could Blast Off by 2023.")

Though Tito made his fortune in finance, he has a master's degree in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

While at JPL, Tito worked on Mariner 4 and 9, which flew to the red planet in the 60s and 70s respectively. Mariner 4 was the first successful flyby of Mars in 1965, beaming back the first pictures of another planet from deep space. (Watch a video about exploring Mars.)

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Jodi Arias' Friends Believe in Her Innocence

Accused murderer Jodi Arias believes she should be punished, but hopes she will not be sentenced to death, two of her closest friends told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

Ann Campbell and Donavan Bering have been a constant presence for Arias wth at least one of them sitting in the Phoenix, Ariz., courtroom along with Arias' family for almost every day of her murder trial. They befriended Arias after she first arrived in jail and believe in her innocence.

Arias admits killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander and lying for nearly two years about it, but insists she killed Alexander in self defense. She could face the death penalty if convicted of murder.

Jodi Arias Testimony: Prosecution's Cross-Examination Watch Video

Jodi Arias Remains Calm Under Cross-Examination Watch Video

Jodi Arias Doesn't Remember Stabbing Ex-Boyfriend Watch Video

Nevertheless, she is aware of the seriousness of her lies and deceitful behavior.

The women told ABC News that they understand that Arias needs to be punished and Arias understands that too.

"She does know that, you know, she does need to pay for the crime," Campbell said. "But I don't want her to die, and I know that she has so much to give back."

Catching Up on the Trial? Check Out ABC News' Jodi Arias Trial Coverage

The lies that Arias admits she told to police and her family have been devastating to her, Bering said.

""She said to me, 'I wish I didn't have to have lied. That destroyed me,'" Donovan said earlier this week. "Because now when it's so important for her to be believed, she has that doubt. But as she told me on the phone yesterday, she goes, 'I have nothing to lose.' So all she can do is go out there and tell the truth."

During Arias' nine days on the stand she has described in detail the oral, anal and phone sex that she and Alexander allegedly engaged in, despite being Mormons and trying to practice chastity. She also spelled out in excruciating detail what she claimed was Alexander's growing demands for sex, loyalty and subservience along with an increasingly violent temper.

Besides her two friends, Arias' mother and sometimes her father have been sitting in the front row of the courtroom during the testimony. It's been humiliating, Bering said.

"She's horrified. There's not one ounce of her life that's not out there, that's not open to the public. She's ashamed," she said.

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Group releases list of 90 medical ‘don’ts’

Don’t use feeding tubes in patients with advanced dementia. Don’t use drugs to aggressively treat diabetes in those older than 65. Don’t automati­cally use imaging technology for minor head injuries in children and headaches in adults. And don’t give antacids to babies with reflux.

Those are among the 90 medical “don’ts” on a list being released Thursday by a coalition of doctor and consumer groups. They are trying to discourage the use of tests and treatments that have become common practice but may cause harm to patients or unnecessarily drive up the cost of health care.

It is the second set of recommendations from the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation’s “Choosing Wisely” campaign, which launched last year amid nationwide efforts to improve medical care in the United States while making it more affordable.

The recommendations run the gamut, from geriatrics to opthalmology to maternal health. Together, they are meant to convey the message that in medicine, “sometimes less is better,” said Daniel Wolfson, executive vice president of the foundation, which funded the effort.

“Sometimes, it’s easier [for a physician] to just order the test rather than to explain to the patient why the test is not necessary,” Wolfson said. But “this is a new era. People are looking at quality and safety and real outcomes in different ways.”

The guidelines were penned by more than a dozen medical professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and ­Gynecologists.

The groups discourage the use of antibiotics in a number of instances in which they are commonly prescribed, such as for sinus infections and pink eye. They caution against using certain sedatives in the elderly and cold medicines in the very young.

In some cases, studies show that the test or treatment is costly but does not improve the quality of care for the patient, according to the groups.

But in many cases, the groups contend, the intervention could cause pain, discomfort or even death. For example, feeding tubes are often used to provide sustenance to dementia patients who cannot feed themselves, even though oral feeding is more effective and humane. And CT scans that are commonly used when children suffer minor head trauma may expose them to cancer-causing radiation.

While the recommendations are aimed in large part at physicians, they are also designed to arm patients with more information in the exam room.

“If you’re a healthy person and you’re having a straightforward surgery, and you get a list of multiple tests you need to have, we want you to sit down and talk with your doctor about whether you need to do these things,” said John Santa, director of the health ratings center at Consumer Reports, which is part of the coalition that created the guidelines.

Health-care spending in the United States has reached 17.9 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product and continues to rise, despite efforts to contain costs. U.S. health-care spending grew 3.9 percent in 2011, reaching $2.7 trillion, according to the journal Health Affairs.

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New death from SARS-like virus in Saudi Arabia

GENEVA: Another person suffering from a SARS-like virus has died in Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, bringing the worldwide number of fatalities from the mystery illness to seven.

The Saudi health ministry informed the UN's health body that the patient had been hospitalised on January 29 and died on February 10, WHO said in a statement.

A laboratory had confirmed on February 18 that the person had died from the so-called novel coronavirus (NCoV), it added.

This brings the number of cases of the virus that have so far been reported to the WHO to 13. The virus was first detected in the middle of last year, with six previous fatalities -- three in Saudi Arabia, two in Jordan and one in Britain.

The news comes just days after a person suffering from the virus died in hospital in central England on Sunday.

That patient, who had a pre-existing health condition, was one of three people in the same family with the virus, which appeared to have been caught by one of the family members during a recent visit to the Middle East and Pakistan.

Even before the death in Britain, the WHO had on Saturday urged its member states to keep a close eye on any cases of severe acute respiratory infections, like pneumonia, and to "carefully review any unusual patterns."

Health authorities should test for NCoV in cases of unexplained pneumonia or other severe, "progressive or complicated respiratory illnesses not responding to treatment, particularly in persons travelling from or resident in areas of the world known to be affected," it said.

It also urged testing of any health workers showing such symptoms, and thorough investigations of clusters of cases, regardless of where they occur in the world.

WHO meanwhile did not recommend any travel or trade restriction in connection with the virus.

Coronaviruses cause most common colds but can also cause SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

The new virus however is different from SARS, especially in that it causes rapid kidney failure.

A SARS epidemic killed more than 800 people when it swept out of China in 2003, sparking a major international health scare.

- AFP/fa

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Now, Jamiat divided over Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: The Jamiat Ulema-Hind, which virtually controls the Islamic seminary Darul-Uloom at Deoband, appears sharply divided over Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

Jamiat president Maulana Arshad Madni said on Thursday that there was no question of accepting the Gujarat strongman as India's prime minister. "Modi was wholly and solely responsible for the 2002 Gujarat riots. He is protecting and shielding many politicians who were directly involved in the worst communal riots in the country," he told the media.

A few days back, however, Malauna Mahmood Madni, general secretary of the Jamiat, came out with a tacit endorsement of Modi. "There is a change in the Muslim psyche towards Modi, and a section of Muslims voted for him in the recent assembly elections," he had said. "There is a perceptible change, and circumstances are different. Muslims in Gujarat are economically better off than in other states which have so-called secular governments."

Maulani Mahmood Madni, who rebelled against his uncle Maulana Arshad Madni four years back and floated a parallel group, said more innocents were languishing in jails in Maharashtra than in Gujarat.

Maulana Arshad Madni, however, insisted that in a secular country like India, there was no place for Modi. "I am sure and certain that the majority of the people reject his ideology. It is not only Muslims but also members of the majority community who oppose his communal agenda," he said.

Maulana Arshad Madni asked the government to reserve jobs for Muslims. He said the government should not take the support of minorities for granted.

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Pictures: Artifacts Provide Clues to Life in Early Christchurch

Photograph courtesy Jaden Harris, Underground Overground Archaeology
 
 
 

A tiny container for Holloway's ointment, less than two inches (five centimeters) wide, came from what was probably a brick-lined basement on Madras Street under a multistory modern commercial building.

British patent medicine entrepreneur Thomas Holloway began to advertise his ointment in 1837, claiming it would cure an impressive list of ailments—"Bad Legs, Bad Breasts, Burns, Bunions, Bite of Mosquitoes and Sandflies, Coco-bay, Chiego-foot, Chilblains, Chapped Hands, Corns (Soft), Cancers, Contracted and Stiff Joints, Elephantiasis, Fistulas, Gout, Glandular Swellings, Lumbago, Piles, Rheumatism, Scalds, Sore Nipples, Sore Throats, Skin Diseases, Scurvy, Sore Heads, Tumours, Ulcers, Wound(s), Yaws."

("Coco-bay" is a Jamaican word for a form of leprosy. "Chiego-foot" is a Trinidadian term that describes a foot covered in chigger bites.)

Holloway moved his company several times in London. "The changing address and the subtle differences in the wording and images that appear on these pots are what enable them to be dated," said Watson. The address on this particular pot—533 Oxford Street, London—indicates that it was made between 1867 and 1881.

Published February 21, 2013

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Peterson Sentenced to 38 Years for 3rd Wife's Murder

Former Illinois cop Drew Peterson yelled, "I did not kill Kathleen!" during the sentencing phase of his trial today -- and then a judge sentenced him to 38 years in jail for killing her.

The sentence came after Will County Judge Edward Burmila denied Peterson a re-trial in the killing of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004.

Peterson had faced as many as 60 years in prison.

At his sentencing, after Peterson shouted that he did not kill his wife, someone in the courtroom yelled in reply, "Yes you did!" according to ABC News Chicago station WLS. Burmila then ordered that person to leave the courtroom.

Peterson went on to claim that police "altered evidence" in his case and "intimidated witnesses and scared my children."

"I love Kathy," he said. "She was a good mom. ... She didn't deserve to die."

He added that he was planning to get a tattoo on his back that would say, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Peterson's defense team had requested a re-trial after he was found guilty in September of killing Savio and making it look like an accident.

READ MORE: Drew Peterson Found Guilty of Killing Wife, Making It Look Like Accident

M. Spencer Green/AP Photo

Drew Peterson Trial: Defense Rests, Son Shows Support Watch Video

The re-trial, Peterson's attorneys claimed, was warranted because his former lead trial counsel, Joel Brodsky, had "single-handedly" lost the trial last fall, according to attorney Steve Greenberg. Greenberg is a former colleague of Brodsky's, but the two have recently been embroiled in a bitter public feud.

Burmila today rejected all of the motions for a new trial and, as he said he would do, moved on to sentencing immediately.

It is the latest development in the bizarre story of Peterson, a former suburban Chicago police officer. In 2004, Peterson's third wife, Savio, was found dead in her bathtub, a death that was initially ruled an accident. But when his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007, Savio's body was exhumed and her death ruled a homicide.

Drew Peterson has never been charged in connection with Stacy Peterson's case.

Drew Peterson's murder trial last fall was marred by legal battles between his attorneys and prosecutors over what evidence was allowed in court. On three separate occasions, Peterson's defense team asked for a mistrial, but it was rebuffed every time by Burmila.

A large part of the testimony in that trial was hearsay, based on comments that Savio and Stacy Peterson made to friends that portrayed Peterson as a violent and threatening husband.

Peterson said at his sentencing today that hearsay was "a scary thing" because people are not accountable for the truth, according to WLS. An emotional Peterson, his voice shaking at times, blamed the media for portraying him as a monster.

In September, a jury convicted Peterson, noting that it had reached a decision it believed was "just."

READ MORE: Drew Peterson Jury Says Hearsay Convinced Them to Convict

Savio's nephew Michael Lisak said afterwards that his aunt "can finally rest in peace."

"Today is a day for battered women, not just Kathleen Savio," Lisak said. "Your voice will be heard. My aunt's voice was heard through the grave. She would not stop. They will listen to you now."

Peterson's sister Cassandra Cales had a blunt message for the newly convicted murderer.

"Game over, Drew," she said. "He can wipe the smirk off his face. It's time to pay."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Kerry makes case for robust foreign aid

CHARLOTTESVILLE — America’s duties and ambitions overseas are too important to shortchange, even in a time of tight budgets, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday.

“In today’s global world, there is no longer anything foreign about foreign policy,” Kerry said in an unusual first address for a U.S. secretary of state.

Politicians too easily make a bogeyman of American foreign aid, said Kerry, who was a politician for more than three decades, while the payoffs of engagement abroad are badly misjudged by many ordinary Americans, he said.

“I can tell you that nothing gets a crowd clapping faster than to say, ‘I’m going to Washington to get them to stop spending all that money over there,’ ” Kerry said.

In truth, the foreign aid budget, as well as the entire State Department budget, is a pittance, Kerry said, just about a penny on the total U.S. federal budget dollar.

The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development budget request for 2012 was $51.6 billion. Although Kerry did not make the direct comparison, the Pentagon spent an estimated $115 billion on the Afghanistan war in the same year.

“Deploying diplomats today is much cheaper than deploying troops tomorrow,” Kerry said to applause.

Suggesting that the United States wastes too much money on foreigners is a cheap applause line that does not make the country safer or more prosperous, Kerry said.

In short, the State Department needs a better lobbyist, Kerry said in his speech at the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s first secretary of state.

“In this age, when a shrinking world clashes with calls for shrinking budgets, it’s our job to connect the dots for the American people between what we do over there and why it matters here at home,” he said.

Kerry will embark on his first foreign trip as secretary next week, a lengthy tour of European and Arab capitals that will largely focus on international proposals to end the grinding civil war in Syria. That war is remote and intangible for many Americans, just the sort of seemingly intractable tragedy that Kerry suggested too many Americans mistakenly assume is not their concern.

The costs of pulling back from the world would be huge, Kerry said, while “the vacuum we would leave by retreating within ourselves will quickly be filled by those whose interests differ dramatically from our own.”

Kerry’s trip will take him to European nations gripped by the euro-zone fiscal crisis, whose ripple effects still pose a threat to the fragile U.S. economic recovery. He likened the unpopular belt-tightening underway in many nations to the budget impasse in the United States.

He also put in a plug for heading off automatic March 1 budget cuts that would force furloughs at the State Department and other federal agencies.

“My credibility as a diplomat working to help other countries create order is strongest when America at last puts its own fiscal house in order,” Kerry said.

“Let’s reach a responsible agreement that prevents these senseless cuts,” he said. “Let’s not lose this opportunity to politics.”

Julie Tate contributed to this report.

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US stocks dive after Fed minutes

NEW YORK: US stocks piled up losses Wednesday after Federal Reserve minutes showed divisions over asset purchases, with some officials suggesting to wind them down before the jobs market picks up.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 108.13 points (0.77 percent) at 13,927.54.

The S&P 500-stock index fell 18.99 points (1.24 percent) to 1,511.95 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 49.18 points (1.53 percent) to 3,164.41, dragged down by heavyweight Apple, off 2.4 percent.

After opening mostly lower amid mixed housing and wholesale inflation data, the indexes hit fresh session lows after the Fed released the minutes of the January 29-30 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

A "number" of participants said that an ongoing evaluation of the $85 billion per month asset purchases "might well lead the committee to taper or end its purchases before it judged that a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market had occurred," the minutes said.

Paul Edelstein of IHS Global Insight said in a research note that "if markets do not expect the Fed to stay the course, then expectations for economic growth and inflation will stay depressed and demand for safe assets (cash and government securities) will remain high."

Office Depot and OfficeMax meanwhile confirmed their merger after a premature announcement of the news.

The all-stock merger would create an $18 billion office supplies retailer. Office Depot shares slumped 16.7 percent and OfficeMax shed 7.0 percent.

Hotel chain Marriott fell 2.7 percent after posting quarterly results that missed expectations.

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers also suffered from disappointing earnings, losing 9.1 percent.

Dell, which reported a 32 percent profit fall in 2012 that was nevertheless slightly better than expected, rose 0.2 percent.

Yahoo! fell 1.7 percent after unveiling a new homepage.

Sony slid 1.2 percent ahead of its PlayStation 4 news conference

The bond market was mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to 2.02 percent from 2.03 percent late Tuesday, while the 30-year edged up to 3.21 percent from 3.20 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

-AFP/ac

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