Indo-Pak trade in J&K suspended till May 18

Indo-Pak trade via Chakan-Da-Bagh Line of Control (LoC) point in Poonch district has been suspended for another week by the cross-LoC traders in protest against slapping of Sales Tax and VAT on the trading commodities.“We have decided to suspend cross-LoC trade between the traders of J&K and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) via Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing point in protest against state government’s move to slap sales tax and VAT on the trading goods”, LoC Traders Union President Pawan Anand told reporters after meeting of the cross-LoC traders here on Saturday.

Planning Commission asked to revise BPL norms

The Supreme Court on Saturday asked the Planning Commission to revise the per capita norms to determine below poverty line looking to the price index of May 2011 or any other subsequent dates.A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma, at a special sitting to hear the case relating to streamlining of the public distribution system, pointed out that according to the parameters of the Planning Commission, Rs.15 per capita per day in rural areas and Rs. 20 in urban areas was the yardstick for evaluating “who is Below Poverty Line.”

96% reduction in HIV transmission seen with early oral ART

Men and women infected with HIV reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners through early initiation of oral anti retro-viral therapy (ART), a multi-centric global study has concluded. The risk reduced by as much as 96 per cent.The study, HPTN 052, was conducted by HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) at 13 sites across Africa, Asia and the Americas. It was designed to study the effect of immediate versus delayed use of ART in transmitting the virus from infected to uninfected sexual partners.

ISRO to set up several new critical facilities

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is enhancing its capabilities by setting up more than half a dozen critical facilities across its installations, even as it is targeting to nearly double its transponder capacity over the next one-and-a-half years.

MIC had delayed, recurrent cyanide toxicity, reveals ICMR report on Bhopal gas tragedy

Contrary to the claims made by Union Carbide Corporation — now The Dow Chemical Company — that the methyl isocyanate (MIC) which killed thousands of people in Bhopal in December, 1984, following a leak in its pesticide unit, was not highly poisonous, a report released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has established that it caused not only “acute cyanide toxicity” but also “delayed or recurrent cyanide toxicity” due to thermal decomposition of the gas.

Monsoon likely to set in over Kerala on May 31

The countdown for the four-month south-west monsoon season has begun.The India Meteorological Department has forecast that the system is likely to set in over Kerala on May 31, with a model error of plus or minus four days.Kerala is the first point of entry for the system in the Indian mainland. June 1 is the normal date for the onset over Kerala.Meanwhile, monsoon flow, the IMD said, was expected to appear over the Andaman Sea in a few days and was likely to cover that region close to its normal date of May 20.

Russia beckons medical students

TN:“In spite of scoring 93 per cent in core subjects, it is difficult to pursue my dream career in medicine in India, considering the intense competition. But Russia will provide me the opportunity. On completion of the course, I can return and practise medicine,” said S. Priyadarshini, a student at the ‘Days of Russian Higher Education in India' exhibition here on Saturday.