Monday, 2 June 2014

Union Rural Development Minister Dies In A Road Accident In Delhi

Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde died in a road accident in Delhi on Tuesday morning when he was on his way to the airport. Munde was rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre after the accident where he was declared dead. AIIMS spokesperson said that there was no breathing, no pulse, no cardiac function when Munde was brought in.
He is survived by his wife and three daughters, and will be cremated on Wednesday at his native village Parli in Maharashtra's Beed district. His family members have come to New Delhi from Mumbai.
The accident took place when the 64-year-old Munde was on his way to the Indira Gandhi International airport to fly to Mumbai. It took place when Munde's car was moving from Lodhi Road towards the Aurobindo Chowk.
Munde's Maruti SX4 car was reportedly hit by a Tata Indica, which jumped a red light, at around 6:20 AM at Prithviraj Road-Tughlak Road roundabout. The driver of the Indica has been arrested.
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said Munde was declared dead at AIIMS. "There was no breathing, no pulse, no cardiac function when Mr Munde was brought to the hospital. Despite efforts, he could not be revived and was declared dead at 7.20 am," said AIIMS spokesperson Dr Amit Gupta.
A driver and Munde's security guard, who were with Munde in his car at the time of the accident, are reportedly safe.
Gadkari said that there are reports that Munde suffered a heart attack after the accident that lead to his death but the party is waiting for the post-mortem to know the exact cause of his death. Gadkari also said that Munde suffered several head injuries.
"Munde's body will be taken to the party headquarters at 12.30 pm on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been informed about the accident," Gadkari added.
Expressing grief over Munde's tragic death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. "Extremely saddened & shocked by the demise of my friend & colleague Gopinath Munde ji. His demise is a major loss for the Nation & the Govt. Gopinath Munde ji was a true mass leader. Hailing from backward sections of society, he rose to great heights & tirelessly served people. My tributes to a dynamic leader whose premature demise leaves a void hard to fill. Condolences to Munde ji's family. We stand by them in this hour of grief."

Samsung Unveiles World’s First Tizen Smartphone

Samsung has introduced its first Tizen-based smartphone, the Samsung Z. The phone will be on display at the Tizen Developer Conference in San Francisco, which starts from June 3.
The Samsung Z features a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display and is powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor. According to the company, the phone features a distinctive home and application layout. Using Dynamic Box and Colour Theme settings, users can tailor their device to what suits them best.
It has an Ultra Power Saving Mode that lets the phone stay operational even at minimal battery levels in emergencies. The Samsung Z will be available in two colours - Black and Gold.

Thursday, 15 May 2014

PVP Scores Another Blockbuster

The magical combination of SS Rajamouli and PVP Cinema, that delivered the path-breaking Naan Ee (Eega in Telugu), returns again with the remake of Maryada Ramanna.
The Tamil version of Maryada Ramanna is titled Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham starring Santhanam and Ashna Zaveri. The film was released on Friday in Tamil Nadu in close to 300 screens. PVP Cinema produced this movie and it has been declared as the blockbuster of summer 2014.
unprecedented step when it moved forward its release date by 6 days to step into the vacuum created by the sudden postponement of Rajanikanth`s Kochadiyan. In 48 hours the release was planned and executed thereby taking the Tamil film industry by storm.
The entire industry was stunned not only by the clinical precision of the release but also the high decibel marketing campaign of PVP Cinema that ensured a strong opening and elevated Santhanam`s maiden foray as a leading man into the blockbuster hit status.

The PVP group is one of India`s leading corporate houses with interests in real estate, sports, media and entertainment with a strong presence in both the Tamil and Telugu film industries as well as owning a Badminton, Tennis and Soccer teams

US Recommends Daily Pill to Prevent AIDS Infections

Federal health officials recommended on Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk for AIDS take a daily pill that has been shown to prevent infection with the virus that causes it.
 If broadly followed, the advice could transform AIDS prevention in the United States - from reliance on condoms, which are effective, but unpopular with many men - to a regimen that relies on an antiretroviral drug.
It would mean a 50-fold increase in the number of prescriptions for the drug, Truvada - to 500,000 a year from fewer than 10,000. The drug costs $13,000 a year, and most insurers already cover it.
The guidelines tell doctors to consider the drug regimen, called PrEP, for pre-exposure prophylaxis, for gay men who have sex without condoms; heterosexuals with high-risk partners, such as drug injectors or bisexuals; patients who regularly have sex with anyone they know is infected; and anyone who shares needles or injects drugs.
Officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have long been frustrated that the number of HIV infections in the United States has barely changed in a decade, stubbornly holding at 50,000 a year, despite 30 years of official advice to rely on condoms to block transmission.

Although there is no guarantee that gay men will adopt PrEP, federal officials say something must be done because condom use is going down. In a recent CDC survey, the number of gay men admitting to recent, unprotected sex rose nearly 20 percent from 2005 to 2011.
Nevertheless, advocates for PrEP were elated at Wednesday's announcement.
"This is wonderful," said Damon L Jacobs, a therapist who has been on the regimen since 2011 and runs a Facebook page promoting it. "When an institution like the CDC makes a statement, it makes a profound difference to the doctors who are ambivalent."
Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC's national center for AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, said the new guidelines should save many lives.
"On average, it takes a decade for a scientific breakthrough to be adopted," he said. "We hope we can shorten that time frame and increase people's survival."
While many antiretroviral drugs could, in theory, be used for PrEP, the only pill approved for that purpose by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is Truvada, made by Gilead Sciences.
 Truvada, a mix of tenofovir and emtricitabine, is considered relatively safe with few side effects. Generic versions are made in India, and the drug has become the backbone of AIDS treatment in poor countries.
Common side effects include headache, stomach pain and weight loss. Rare but serious side effects include liver and kidney damage.
Officially, the CDC is endorsing PrEP only in conjunction with condoms. But health officials say they know that some people will stop using them. Many gay men, including Jacobs, admit to doing just that.
That raises their risk of catching other diseases, like syphilis and gonorrhea. But health officials argue that the benefits outweigh the risks.
"Making the perfect the enemy of the good is something we've got to get over," said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the country's best-known AIDS doctor. "I strongly support the CDC doing this."
Syphilis and gonorrhea can usually be cured with antibiotics, but HIV lasts for life and is fatal if left untreated. Even those treated properly often develop early heart disease and other problems.
Since 2010, three separate studies using Truvada have shown that, when taken daily, it can vastly reduce the chances of infection. That held true for gay men, heterosexual couples and drug injectors. In the study of gay men, known as iPrEx, men whose blood tests showed they had taken their pill every day were 99 percent protected.
The new guidelines say patients should have an HIV test before starting the regimen to make sure they are not already infected. (Prophylaxis involves doses of two drugs, but anyone with the disease should be on triple therapy.)
Patients should be retested every three months to be sure that they are still HIV-negative, that they are not developing side effects to the drug, and that they have not caught any other sexually transmitted diseases.
While many AIDS specialists endorse PrEP, it has not caught on among doctors as a whole. A survey of 1,175 infectious disease specialists in the United States and Canada published in December showed that 74 percent supported PrEP, but only 9 percent had actually prescribed it.

"There's a lot of inertia among doctors - and a strong statement from the CDC will be pretty valuable for overcoming that," said Dr. Demetre C. Daskalakis, an AIDS specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York who has many patients on the drug.
Also, PrEP has not caught on among gay men, who are by far the largest risk group.
By analyzing pharmacy databases, Gilead has tried to track how many Truvada prescriptions are for PrEP, rather than AIDS treatment. As of last September, the company said, it knew of only 2,319 - of whom 49 percent were women.
Advocates said there were several reasons there had been little clamor for PrEP. First, while many doctors prescribe statins as prophylaxis against heart attacks, for example, only AIDS specialists think about prescribing AIDS drugs as prophylaxis. But uninfected gay men have no reason to see AIDS specialists, and usually see general practitioners if they see doctors at all.
Also, Truvada is expensive. However, private insurers and state Medicaid programs have, thus far, generally covered such prescriptions, and Gilead has a program covering co-pays and giving Truvada to the uninsured.
"In my experience, it's a simple process to get the meds approved," Daskalakis said.
Another reason is that Gilead does not advertise Truvada for prophylaxis, even though the FDA in 2012 approved Truvada for that use. Nor does Gilead advertise Truvada for treatment, for which the FDA approved Truvada in 2004.
A company spokeswoman said it had no plans to do so, but it does make grants to gay organizations that espouse PrEP.
Not advertising helps Gilead avoid controversy. Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, has called Truvada a "party drug" and argued that PrEP would encourage men to avoid condoms and, thus, increase the infection rate. He called the release of the guidelines "a shameful chapter in the history of the CDC."
That debate has played out on gay websites, where men favoring PrEP are often stigmatized as "Truvada whores." (The term was coined in a 2012 Huffington Post article, whose author has since publicly regretted his stance.)
"People are reacting out of fear," Jacobs said. "Gay men who embraced the condom message and survived the trauma of 30 years ago have PTSD. This is a paradigm shift, and people don't like change."
Recently, a backlash against the backlash has emerged with a few men proudly wearing "Truvada Whore" T-shirts, just as others once proudly wore "Queer" or "HIV Positive" ones.
Adam Zeboski, a test counselor for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, makes and sells "Truvada Whore" T-shirts to raise money for the foundation.

"People are both very supportive and very offended," he said. "By reclaiming the 'Truvada Whore' term, we're taking the power away from those who use it against us."

Pak, India agree to resume cricket series

Pakistan on Thursday said it had agreed to play a total of six cricket series against India from 2015 to 2023, the first since the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks suspended play between the teams.
The Pakistan Cricket Board said it had signed an MoU with the Board of Control for Cricket in India to play the six series.
A PCB official said the first series could be held in the United Arab Emirates next year, with Pakistan hosting India for two Tests, three ODIs and two T20 matches.
"A total of 14 Tests, 30 ODIs and 12 T20 matches would be part of these six series," chief operating officer Subhan Ahmad said.
Since 2007, the BCCI has not played a proper bilateral Test series with Pakistan due to political and other reasons, particularly after the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.
India suspended all series with Pakistan after the 2008 attacks, which New Delhi blamed on militants based across the border.
The two countries played one short series of three ODIs and two T20 matches in India in December 2012 otherwise they have met only in ICC organised events or the Asia Cup.
The official also stated that efforts were underway to sign formal agreements with the BCCI under which in case series are held as part of the Future Tour Programmes some compensation can be made available to the host country.
"This MoU is part of our conditional support we have agreed to give to the recent governance and other changes in the ICC led by India, England and Australia," another official confirmed.

He added six of the four expected series in the next eight years would be hosted by Pakistan either at home or at neutral venues.

Sunday, 11 May 2014

Xperia Z2 Launched In India At Rs 49,990

Sony has launched its new flagship smartphone, Xperia Z2, in India at Rs 49,990. Available in White, Black and Purple colour, the Sony Xperia Z2 is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocked at 2.3 GHz along with 3GB of RAM and a 3,200mAh battery.
The Z2's built-in camera can capture video in 4K resolution, an emerging standard that offers four times the details as current high-definition video. The Z2 sports the same 20.7 megapixel camera found in its predecessors, the Z1 and the Z1s. Most other smartphone cameras have 8 to 13 megapixels.
The Z2 is waterproof, like the Z1 phones, and its screen is slightly larger, at 5.2 inches diagonally instead of 5 inches.
Sony is borrowing innovations from its audio and camcorder businesses and incorporating its new Xperia Z2 smartphone with noise-cancelling technology and ultra-high-definition video recording.
Sony also announced the launch of its SmartBand SWR10 at the Xperia Z2 launch event in New Delhi. The band works with a Lifelog app on the phone to record your day. You see key moments on a timeline, including photos taken and messages sent and received. As your day progresses on the timeline, you see the number of steps and calories burned to that point.
Initally, the Xperia Z2 will come bundled with the Sony SmartBand; it will be a limitd period offer, says the company. The SmartBand will be available separately at Rs 5,990.

These device were announced early this year at MWC 2014.

Samsung Plans To Launch Its First Tizen Smartphone In India

Samsung Electronics Co is preparing to launch a new smartphone in Russia and India based on its homegrown operating system Tizen, people familiar with the matter said, according to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Officials at Samsung were not immediately available for comment Sunday afternoon.
The paper said this was the latest step in Samsung's push to compete more directly in mobile software and services with Google Inc and Apple Inc.
The South Korean technology giant is planning an event in Moscow in the coming weeks to introduce a smartphone running on the Tizen operating system, the people told the Journal.

The launch in Russia would be presented at an "Unpacked" event, similar to the format that Samsung uses to unveil its flagship devices, one person told the paper.

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