Dengue Death Toll Reaches 17

Kolkata: With two more deaths, the dengue toll in West Bengal, since January, went up to 17 on Monday, a senior health department official said. One of the victims was from Dum Dum and the other from North 24 Parganas’ Bangaon. Both were women and died on Sunday.

“The death count has now become 17. Most of the victims were from North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts,” he said. Satpathy said, 77 fresh cases of dengue were reported in the last 24 hours. “The number of dengue cases in the state since January now stands at 2,870,” he said.

There has been a sharp rise in dengue cases across the state this monsoon. With most of the affected patients undergoing treatment at Dr B C Roy Memorial Hospital For Children and Beliaghata ID hospital, the leave of all doctors and paramedical staff, including nurses and lab technicians, have been cancelled.With dengue cases multiplying each passing day, and patients crowding the hospitals, the state government might cancel the leave of all health staff across the state in the near future.The move comes in the wake of hospitals struggling to deal with the influx of patients.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) suspended 30 municipal staff and two doctors for not working properly. KMC Mayor-in-Council, Health, Atin Ghosh while speaking to the media said, “late arrival” and “non-performance” of duties were the reasons behind the notices issued.

The chief minister had sought to reassure worried citizens few weeks back after she held a high-level meeting with the responsible authorities.

Abraj Kudai Hotel-Mecca

Mecca will soon be the home to the world’s largest hotel, Abraj Kudai. Apart from its historic and religious significance, Mecca will now become an important tourist destination too by 2017.

With 10,000 rooms, 12 towers- of which 10 will be four star and two will be for five-star guests, more than 70 restaurants and 48 storeys, the hotel will also four computer-generated helipads on the roof. Abraj Kudai’s podium will accommodate a bus station, shopping mall, food courts, conference centre and car parks.

Abraj Kudai will have five special floors, always reserved for the members of the Saudi Royal Family. The project will cost an estimated $3.5 billion to complete. It is excepted that the hotel will showcase the ‘unparalleled size, height as well as location, exposure and architectural style.’ The hotel building will also ‘pose itself as a striking landmark with a profoundly modern multifunctional identity relating to both the Saudi locality and the Islamic universality of its expected users.’

A dome on top of two mid towers will add an extra binge to the hotel. The dome, which will be one of the world’s largest domes atop its tallest tower, will comprise a ballroom and convention centre, making another record of its own.

However, the details secure that the Abraj Kudai hotel is not only the largest of its genre, but it is also one of the costliest. The hotel will boast 64,000 square-metres of total area of the building while 1,400,000 square-metres is the complete floor area.

According to a latest news development, despite of the largest hotel in making in Mecca, the locals miss the serene religious tone of the city that buckled the people together. Ziauddin Sardar, writer of Mecca: The Sacred City echoed this, saying: “The one beloved of all Muslims. The other is a place firmly rooted in time and space, where human nature is exhibited in all its foibles and ferocity.”

Dil Chahta Hai Celebrates 15th Anniversary, Possible Sequel On The Cards

The movie hit the silver screens 15 years back on August 10, 2001 and won millions of hearts. Starring an awesome ensemble star cast of Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni and Dimple Kapadia; the movie became one of the biggest blockbusters of 2001.

Director Farhan Akhtar made his directorial debut with this film. It was also the first film written by him. The 42-year-old director was quite nostalgic as he took to his social media to post about the film & the memories attached. He tweeted, “#DilChahtaHai turns 15 today. Thank you to all who made it happen and to all who keep it alive. Big hug”

When a fan asked him on Twitter if the film’s sequel is in the pipeline, he neither confirmed it nor did he deny it, hanging thousands of fans with the hoe of a possible sequel in the near future.

The film is set in modern-day urban Mumbai and Sydney and focuses on a major period of transition in the lives of three young friends.

The film won The National Film award for Best Hindi Film. It also won five Filmfare awards from nine nominations at the 47^th Filmfare awards including Critic’s Award for Best Film, Best Performance In A Supporting Role, Male For Akshaye Khanna, Best Performance In A Comic Role for Saif Ali Khan, three IIFAs, two Zee Cine awards, among others.

The film received praise from critics for portraying contemporary Indian youth as cosmopolitan and urban. Over the years, the film has gained a cult status.  It also paved the way for coming-of-age movies like Lakshya and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

Well, if the sequel comes out, then it is surely set to become one of the most anticipated Bollywood movies of near future, although it will be difficult to match the level of its prequel, but Farhan Akhtar has a sense of delivering the best always.

7th Pay Commission: Pre-2016 Retirees To Get Pension Hike

New Delhi: All pre-2016 retirees will get the benefits of seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) recommendations like hike in pension and arrears by this month end, the government has said.

For existing pensioners, who have retired till December 31, 2015, the revised pension or family pension with effect from this year shall be determined by multiplying the pension or family pension, as had been fixed at the time of implementation of sixth CPC recommendations, by 2.57, it said, adding that, the amount of revised pension so arrived at shall be rounded off to next higher rupee.

The Seventh CPC’s recommendations will be implemented from January 1, 2016. The ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions has issued an order regarding increase in pension and grant of arrears to pre-2006 retirees. “It is considered desirable that the benefit of these orders should reach the pensioners as expeditiously as possible,” the ministry said.

To achieve this objective it is desired that all pension disbursing authorities should ensure that the revised pension and the arrears due to the pensioners is paid or credited to their account by August 31, 2016 or before positively, it said.

Further, public sector banks handling disbursement of pension to the central government pensioners are hereby authorised to pay pension or family pension to existing pensioners at the revised rates “without any further authorisation from the concerned Accounts Officers or Head of Office etc”, the order said. There are about 58 lakh central government pensioners.

Japan: Today Marks 71 Years Of Nagasaki Atomic Bombing Anniversary

Nagasaki: Bells tolled in Nagasaki, Japan on Tuesday, August 9 to mark the 71st anniversary of the city’s atomic bombing by the United States, bringing an eventual end to World War II.

Thousands of people stood in silent reflection at the city’s Peace Park as the bells tolled at the precise moment (11:02 AM Nagasaki time, 02:02 GMT) an atomic bomb dubbed “Fat Man” detonated over the city just moments after being dropped from an American B-29 bomber.  Over 70,000 people were killed instantly, with thousands more dying months,   even years later from radiation sickness. The attack came three days after the US dropped the first ever atomic bomb — “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, which ultimately killed 1,40,000 people.

The attendees included aging survivors of the August 9, 1945 attack, as well as representatives of over 50 nations, including several nuclear powers.

Last year, the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing, a record 75 nations were represented at the Nagasaki ceremony.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged world leaders to “bring together as much of your collective wisdom as you possibly can” to permanently eliminate nuclear weapons, and  urged them to visit his city to learn first hand the aftermath of a nuclear attack, using President Barack Obama’s historic visit in May to Hiroshima as an example.  Obama was the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, which was attacked three days before Nagasaki.  “Knowing the facts becomes the starting point for thinking about a future free of nuclear weapons,” he said.

Taue also called on Japan’s national government to legalize the country’s long-standing principles of neither producing nor possessing nuclear weapons, and banning the entry of such weapons on Japanese soil.

Six days after the Nagasaki attack, Japan’s imperial government surrendered to Allied forces. 

A list of 3,487 “Hibakusha” who died over the past year was enshrined at the ceremony, bringing the total number of deaths during and resulting from the Nagasaki atomic bombing to 172,230. A “Hibashuka” is a survivor of either of the atomic explosions at Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945. The average age of survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki stood at 80.86 as of the end of March.

2016 Rio Olympics: Dipa Karmakar Becomes The First Indian Gymnast To Qualify For Vault Finals

Rio de Janeiro: Dipa Karmakar, the first Indian gymnast to participate in the Olympics, has created history once again by making it to the finals of the event. Karmakar finished eighth in the individual vault finals on Sunday night after successfully pulling off the dangerous “Produnova” stunt and securing 14.850 points.

However, it wasn’t an easy qualification for Dipa, as her position dropped to eighth. Considering only the top eight qualify for the finals, scheduled to be held on 14 August, the eve of India's Independence Day, it was a nervous wait for the gymnast. But she didn't drop any further and secured a place in the title round.

Karmarkar chose to go with the Produnova, considered one of the toughest maneuvres in gymnastics. Only five women have successfully managed to perform it, Karmakar being one of them.

In the final round, the Tripura athlete is expected to stick with what has worked well for her and attempt another Produnova. Here's a clip of Karmakar pulling off the move that established her position as among the best in the world.

Following this, she participated in uneven bars, where she secured 11.666, scoring low on difficulty but high on execution.

Karmakar, who turns 23 on Tuesday, gave herself the best birthday gift possible. And father Dulal couldn’t have been happier, even though he admitted to have gone without adequate sleep.

The finals will take place on August 14, where the entire nation will have her eyes on her.

Monkey Gets Another Chance To Claim His ‘Selfie’

Animal rights organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has filed an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for justice to Naruto — a now-famous monkey known for taking a “selfie” that prompted an unprecedented copyright lawsuit — at claiming ownership over his image.

The image was taken in 2011 by Naruto, then a six-year-old male free-living crested macaque in Indonesia.

Photographer David J Slater had left his camera unattended in an Indonesian forest which allowed Naruto to take several photos of himself.

Slater and his company, which both claim copyright ownership, published the photos that Naruto indisputably took. PETA sued, claiming that Naruto was the author of the photos and that Slater had infringed on Naruto’s copyright.

Disappointingly, in January, a federal judge dismissed the monkey selfie suit, finding that a non-human animal could not own a copyright.

“In every practical (and definitional) sense, he (Naruto) is the ‘author’ of the works,” argued PETA in the appeal brief filed on Tuesday.

“Had the Monkey Selfies been made by a human using Slater’s unattended camera, that human would undisputedly be declared the author and copyright owner of the photographs. Nothing in the Copyright Act limits its application to human authors. Protection under the Copyright Act does not depend on the humanity of the author, but on the originality of the work itself,” the appeal read.

According to PETA, if the lawsuit succeeds, it will be the first time that a nonhuman animal has been declared the owner of property rather than a piece of property himself or herself.

It will also be the first time that a right has been extended to a nonhuman animal beyond just the basic necessities of food, shelter, water, and veterinary care. In our view, it is high time.

“The fact that copyright ownership by an animal has not been previously asserted does not mean that such rights cannot be asserted,” PETA wrote.

PETA is seeking the court's permission to administer and protect Naruto's copyright in the “monkey selfies,” without compensation, with all proceeds to be used for the benefit of Naruto and his community.

Naruto is known to field researchers in Sulawesi who have observed and studied him for years as they work in the region.