Better livelihood prospect drives poor Indian women to prostitution

New Delhi - Four out of five female sex workers in India have joined the profession voluntarily; they were not forced or sold into it. Prostitution is just one among several livelihood options available to women from poor backgrounds, says a new survey. The ‘First pan-India survey of sex workers’, conducted by Pune University researchers Rohini Sahni and V Kalyan Shankar, found that 79.4 percent of sex workers (both those who entered the profession directly as well as those with prior experience in other fields) say they entered the profession on their own accord. The remaining were forced (71. per cent), sold into prostitution (2.8 per cent)...

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Immune System 'Trigger' That Fights Disease Identified

In a welcome development, scientists are now one step closer to understanding the mysteries of how our bodies mount an immune response to fight disease. David Underhill, an associate professor in Cedars-Sinai's Inflammatory Bowel and Immunobiology Research Institute and colleagues have discovered how a molecular receptor on the surface of white blood cells identifies when invading fungi have established direct contact with the cell surface and pose an infectious threat. The receptor called Dectin-1 detects fungi and instructs white blood cells whether to expend the energy needed to devour the invading pathogens. In early stages of infection,...

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Obese people help thin friends gain weight!

London: Do our friends make us fatter? Yes, according to a new study which has found that thin people who socialise with the obese can put on weight. But, here is the good news. The process can work in reverse too theoretically, says the study. For the study, a team, led by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, examined 32 years of data collected during a research of people`s hearts in Framingham in Massachusetts. Researchers discovered that where two people who are friends for a long time, and where one is heavier than the other, the thinner friend tended to increase in weight by up to 57 per cent over time. The figure was made more even...

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42.1 million viewers in India watched the royal wedding

New Delhi : The market share of English news channels increased by 15 percent as an estimated 42.1 million viewers in India watched the royal wedding between Prince Williams and Kate Middleton Friday, said rating agency Audience Measurement and Analytics Ltd (aMap). The surprise element of the rating was the viewership among housewives jumping by 25 percent. "Viewership among housewives increased as they were glued to the watch every detail of the wedding ceremony, the designer clothing and the grand affair," Jiniti Shah, vice president, aMap said in a statement Saturday. I...

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Royal wedding: official photographer reveals how he achieved 'effortless' pictures

The official pictures of William and Kate's wedding were shot to show two families coming together and reveal the couple's love for each other, the photographer Hugo Burnand has said. Speaking at Clarence House in London, Hugo Burnand said he hoped it looked ''effortless, relaxed and friendly''. He said his favourite photograph was one of the newlyweds with the bridesmaids and page boys, but there were only seconds to set it up and the children were coaxed with promises of jelly beans and sweets. The pictures, taken in Buckingham Palace's throne room immediately after the bride and groom arrived from Westminster Abbey, capture the Royal...

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Sony executives bow in apology for security breach

TOKYO — Sony executives bowed in apology Sunday for a security breach in the company's PlayStation Network that compromised the personal data of some 77 million accounts on the online service. "We deeply apologize for the inconvenience we have caused," said Kazuo Hirai, chief of Sony Corp.'s PlayStation video game unit, who was among the three executives who held their heads low for several seconds at the company's Tokyo headquarters in the traditional style of a Japanese apology. Hirai said parts of the service would be back this week and that the company would beef up security measures. But he and other executives acknowledged that not...

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Experts: Apple should've addressed concerns sooner

NEW YORK — Apple should have responded much sooner to concerns about location data stored on its iPhones, even if the company didn't have all the answers ready, marketing and crisis-management experts say. The company took a week to deny that the phones track the precise location of their owners, as some users and privacy watchdogs had feared. As soon as it started selling the devices, Apple should have said how it uses, or doesn't use, location data, said Joe Marconi, a DePaul University marketing professor and author of "Crisis Marketing: When Bad Things Happen to Good Companies." "The whole problem could have been a non-problem if Apple...

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Delhi Metro to use longer girders to expedite construction

To save time and conform to the latest international technologies, the Delhi Metro will use 25-metre long girders on some of the elevated viaducts to be constructed for the ambitious Phase-III, work on which will begin after the Union Government approves the project. Using 25-metre long girders in the Phase-III will save time as well as minimise the inconvenience caused to people during the construction of the project, which will see another 107 km of the national capital getting connected with the Metro. Delhi Metro had used 25-metre long girders in constructing the Airport Express Corridor, which was completed in just 27 months. In the...

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Indian pilots' strike enters fourth day

FLAGSHIP carrier Air India was forced to cancel most of its domestic flights by a pilots' strike over pay that entered its fourth day. The financially ailing state-run carrier, which says it has lost $6 million in revenues so far due to the strike, said it was operating just 39 domestic flights out of its regular 320, according to the Press Trust of India. The airline is "operating on only trunk routes" to major Indian cities, an Air India spokesman said. "We do not have any pilots," he added. The airline, which at the start of the strike had been able to operate most flights, has also scaled back international operations. More than 800...

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India set for ninth rate hike to cool inflation

NEW DELHI: India, which has the highest inflation of any large Asian economy, looks set this week to hike interest rates for a ninth time despite mounting concern over the impact of monetary tightening. The central bank has raised rates eight times since March 2010, albeit in gradual, quarter-point steps to minimise the impact on economic growth. But inflation has remained high and some economists expect Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policymakers to move more aggressively when they meet on Tuesday. "A 50-basis-point rate rise wouldn't surprise me -- inflation is proving stubbornly difficult to reduce," Deepak Lalwani, head of London-based...

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Critics do not know the sacrifices made by founders: Narayana Murthy

A day after the Infosys board announced leadership changes, its Chairman and Chief Mentor, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, took a swipe at those who criticised the IT giant for favouring founders for the top jobs in the company. Speaking to Business Line, Mr Murthy said critics do not realise the sacrifices the founders and their respective families made while building the company. “There are many people who comment on founders versus professionals. Unfortunately, none of them knows the kind of sacrifice the founder professionals made in the beginning.” Explaining the hardship the founders and their families underwent in the early days of the company,...

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9/11: The Day Osama Shook The World

New Delhi :   On September 11, 2001,  a series of coordinated suicide attacks were carried out by Al Qaeda upon the United States.  On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda  terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger  jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. Both towers collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into  The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington DC. The...

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Osama : A Life Of Terror

New Delhi : With the death of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the curtains are drawn over a long era of terror spanning different continents on the globe. The Al Qaeda's reins  will now shift  to the former Egyptian doctor   Ayman al Zawahiri, for long No.2 in the Qaeda hierarchy. Osama bin Laden's life has been a long-running story of turbulence, terror and tenacity. Born 1957 to a  Syrian mother, Osama bin Laden was the seventh son among fifty brothers and sisters. According to a report in Frontline, his father Mohammed Awad bin Laden came to the kingdom from Hadramout (South Yemen) sometime around 1930. The father...

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Osama Bin Laden Found Dead : US Media

Washington : The world's most dreaded terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is dead, American media reported. The US is in possession of Bin Laden's body, reports the BBC. Details  about Osama bin Laden's death are yet to come out. Rumours of Osama's death were reported on Twitter before the official statement. Shortly before 12:30am Keith Urbahn, Chief of Staff, Office of Donald Rumsfeld tweeted: "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn." Minutes later a CBS news reporter tweeted: "House Intelligence committee aide confirms that Osama Bin Laden is dead. U.S. has the body." Sources said bin Laden...

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Man Dies After Chemist Gives Him A Wrong Drug

Mumbai : A 65-year-old tailor from Mankhurd  Abdul Gaffar Khan dies in Sion Hospital on Saturday afternoon, after the chemist gave him a wrong medicine, reports Mumbai Mirror.Khan,who had hypertension,was erroneously given medicine for cancer by the chemist a few days ago. He died in hospital on Saturday afternoon. Khan,who was undergoing treatment at the out-patient department at Sion hospital,had recently been prescribed a list of medicines - one of which was Met XL 50.Instead of giving him this drug,the chemist gave him an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug called Methotrexate. Within 24 hours of taking this,Khan's body broke into a rash,and...

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I Will Not Break Down, Nor Bow Out, Says Modi

Ahmedabad : Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today accused the Centre of persecuting him through constitutional authorities, saying he would neither “break down” nor “bow out”.Modi’s statement came in the backdrop of recent revelations made by IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt in his affidavit in the Supreme Court implicating the CM in the 2002 communal riots. “I have been silent for one year. But today, when the Golden Jubilee celebrations are getting over, I want to put my word before the people,” Modi said during the closing ceremony of a function celebrating Gujarat’s Golden Jubilee year.  “This kind of discrimination in democracy, faced...

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Kalmadi Spends Birthday In CBI Lockup

New Delhi  :  Known for his pomp and show, sacked CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi today spent a quiet birthday in CBI custody. He was the centre of glitter during the fortnight-long sports extravaganza last year but when it came to his birthday, it was without all the razzmatazz. For a man, who used to make everything a showbiz, his birthday this year was an occasion that was probably only known to CBI sleuths around him. He is also believed to have spent some time with a few family members. Kalmadi, who has been known for high-class parties, turned 67. He was arrested by the CBI on April 25. At present serving...

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