http://www.my-india.net/n/index.shtml India: News en-us http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115804,18692, Washington, Oct 23 (ANI): An easy way to control those hunger pangs would be to pop a chewing gum into your mouth before an afternoon snack, say researchers. The researchers, led by Marion Hetherington, D.Phil., Professor of Biopsychology at Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow, found that chewing gum can help reduce cravings and control appetite. It also helps promote fullness among people who limit their overall calorie intake. What’s more, the boffins also found that chewing gum can reduce calorie intake from snacks by as much as 25 calories. Nutritionists say that even small changes in calories can have an impact in the long term. As a part of the study on the effectiveness of gum, researchers asked 60 people between the ages of 18 to 54 to consume a sweet and salty afternoon snack after chewing a sweetened gum or not chewing gum. They then checked for hunger, appetite and cravings immediately after lunch, and then hourly. Apart from reducing caloric intake by 25 calories, the researchers also found that it specifically reduced sweet snack intake by 39 calories; and salty snacks by 11 calories. Hunger and desire to eat were significantly suppressed by chewing gum at one, two and three hour intervals after lunch. Participants reported that chewing gum improved their mood by reducing anxiety and stress, and increasing contentment and relaxation. In a similar study among individuals not actively trying to manage their weight, chewing gum reduced snack intake by average of 36 calories. Data combined from both studies found that chewing gum reduced intake of the sweet snack in particular by an average of 47 calories. The research study is to be presented at the 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115751,95372, New Delhi, Oct 23 (ANI): External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will leave today for Harbin in China to attend the India-Russia-China Foreign Minister level conference.Mukherjee, accompanied by senior officials of the External Affairs Ministry, will hold discussions on regional and international issues, with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.On October 24, the three Foreign Ministers are expected to discuss regional and international issues and expansion of trilateral cooperation, an External Affairs Ministry release said.This will be the third stand-alone trilateral Foreign Ministers' meeting after the last one in New Delhi on February 14, 2007 and the first one in Vladivostok on June 2, 2005.The three foreign ministers have also met on the sidelines of multilateral forums in September 2002, September 2003, October 2004 and September 2005.UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is also expected to leave for Beijing on Wednesday. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115713,21565, New Delhi, Oct 23 (ANI): The three-day SAARC conference that begins here today will focus on curbing the menace of terrorism, organised crimes, narcotics smuggling and human trafficking.On the opening day, the Sixth SAARC Conference on Cooperation in Police Matters will be held.This will be followed by the Second Meeting of SAARC Home Secretaries and the Second Meeting of SAARC Interior/Home Ministers.These meetings will continue the exchange of apex level ideas/perspectives on issues of criticality and work towards enhancement of cooperation in security management and related issues. India, as host, will chair the meetings.Capacity building, institutional arrangements and multi-lateral agreements will be at the core of these deliberations at all the three levels. The forthcoming meetings are, thus, expected to deliberate on among others, a network of cooperation amongst police chiefs, SAARC visa exemption scheme, a Draft Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, greater strength to existing mechanisms of cooperation in drugs, terrorism and trafficking.As SAARC member States are signatories to the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and its additional Protocol and SAARC Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the deliberations are expected to witness increased dynamism within the existing and newly set up institutional mechanisms, namely, the SAARC Terrorism Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD) and the SAARC Drug Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD) flowing from these conventions.All member States will participate in these meetings. The newest member State of SAARC, Afghanistan, would be participating in the three meetings for the first time. The meeting assumes significance in the light of a series of terror attacks in India, including in Ludhiana, Ajmer and Hyderabad.At the 14th SAARC Summit held in New Delhi, the Heads of Government emphasised the importance of increased cooperation in security related areas, especially the need to combat terrorism, narcotics and psychotropic substances, trafficking in women and children and other trans-national crimes. They had also expressed their commitment to take every possible measure to prevent and suppress, in particular, financing of terrorist acts and counter trafficking of narcotic drugs and illicit arms. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115665,62300, New Delhi, October 22 (ANI): At the second meeting of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism (JATM) here today, India and Pakistan agreed to exchange specific information and assist in investigations on terror incidents.The Indian delegation was led by External Affairs Ministry Additional Secretary (International Organisation) KC Singh, while Pakistan Foreign Affairs Ministry Additional Secretary (UN and EC) Khalid Aziz Babar lead his side."Both sides shared new information on terrorist incidents including those, which have occurred since the last meeting. They agreed to continue to work to identify measures, exchange specific information and assist in investigations," an External Affairs Ministry release said."The two sides reviewed the follow up steps taken on the information shared during the first meeting of the Joint Anti Terrorism Mechanism held in Islamabad on March 6, 2007 and in the intervening period," the release added.The next meeting of the mechanism will be held in Islamabad.Meanwhile, Pakistan today said that the internal situation in both countries would not affect the bilateral peace process."Domestic situation either in Pakistan or India has nothing to do with the composite dialogue. If the ruling alliance in New Delhi is destabilised at the moment, it does not mean that the dialogue would go slow," said Muhammad Sadiq, spokesperson of Pakistan's Foreign Office."Secondly, there is no instability in Pakistan. We are in election year. Elections campaigns have started. So it's a very active period in terms of domestic political scene," he stated. At the first meeting of the JATM, India had handed over a photo of a Pakistani national suspected to be involved in the bomb blasts on Samjhauta ExpressToday's meeting assumed significance as it was held in the backdrop of recent blasts in Hyderabad, Ajmer and Ludhiana.The JATM was constituted after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met on September 16, 2006, on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana, to put in place a joint anti-terrorism institutional mechanism to identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations. The second meeting, which should have been held in June, was held after seven months. India is of the opinion that the delay was more because of internal troubles in Pakistan. Officially, Pakistan maintains that the previous official nominated for the talks had retired and his replacement took time.India and Pakistan had agreed to exchange information about terrorism with an aim of tracking down the culprits of the past attacks and prevent incidents in future. India and Pakistan had decided to meet every three months, with the delegations having the freedom to call for more information if required. The purpose of the joint mechanism is to prevent terrorist attacks in both countries, and to assist each other through information sharing.A meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Home Ministers will also be held here on October 25 to discuss terrorism, money laundering, drug and human trafficking. Prior to this meeting, police chiefs from SAARC countries will meet on October 23. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115462,68243, New Delhi, Oct 22 (ANI): External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will leave for Harbin in China on Tuesday to attend the India-Russia-China Foreign Minister level conference. Mukherjee, accompanied by senior officials of the External Affairs Ministry, will hold discussions on regional and international issues, with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.On October 24, the three Foreign Ministers are expected to discuss regional and international issues and expansion of trilateral cooperation, an External Affairs Ministry release said here today.This will be the third stand-alone trilateral Foreign Ministers' meeting after the last one in New Delhi on February 14, 2007 and the first one in Vladivostok on June 2, 2005. The three foreign ministers have also met on the sidelines of multilateral forums in September 2002, September 2003, October 2004 and September 2005.UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is also expected to leave for Beijing on Wednesday. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115429,33422, New Delhi, Oct 22 (ANI): The recent developments in Pakistan and rise in incidents of Islamic extremism there will be a major focus during the four-day conference of Indian Army Commanders, beginning here from Tuesday. The rise of Taliban and al-Qaida in the immediate neighbourhood would be reviewed, and a holistic assessment of the security environment and situation in Jammu and Kashmir will be part of the agenda of the conference, which will be chaired by Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor.The conference would also focus on "growing military capabilities" of China and recent reports of Chinese intrusion in Bhutan will also be discussed, a senior official of the Indian Army said. There were concerns in Indian administration over the Chinese intrusion in Bhutan that took place in the area adjoining Tibet. Bhutan and China share close to 500 kilometres long border but have no diplomatic relations between them. The delay in the planned joint military exercise with China would also come up for discussion. India and China had earlier agreed to conduct a joint exercise that was expected to be held in October, 2007.However, the exercise has been delayed, as China is yet to send their officials to New Delhi for planning the army exercise.Security experts in New Delhi have noted the recent reports of China's growing military capabilities, including more number of Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines SSBNs that were spotted earlier this year.With the issue of force modernisation also topping the agenda during the conference, commanders would be also deliberating on the Army's Space Vision 2020. "The Army realizes the importance of space as a vital arena for future exploitation and has already established a 'Space Cell' in the Army Head Quarter to coordinate space based applications in a joint services operational environment," a release issued by the Indian Army stated. The deliberations during the conference will be aimed at ratifying the Army's space philosophy; concept of utilization of space at tactical, operational and strategic levels, desired operational capabilities and related ground and space assets, officials said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also address the Combined Commanders' Conference scheduled to be held on Wednesday.Top officials of the Indian Navy will also be engaging in a review of a wide variety of issues, including logistics, naval architecture, training and operations, in a separate three day-long conference beginning Tuesday, which will be presided over by Chief Of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115333,76472, New Delhi, Oct 22 (ANI): The special committee of the UPA and the Left formed to resolve disagreements between the two sides over the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy cooperation will be holding its next round of talks on November 16.The committee, which held deliberations today for the fifth time on the issue, today decided to continue the talks even as the 'unofficial' deadline for India to initiate formal negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for country-specific agreements ends in October. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the convenor of the special committee, told reporters after the meeting that discussions were conducted in a congenial and cooperative atmosphere and that the Government had agreed to look into all concerns raised by the Left, including the Hyde Act and its implication on foreign policy. Just hours before this meeting, top leaders of the coalition government met amidst report that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his disappointment over the politics being played over the bilateral agreement Singh reportedly told his UPA partners that he was embarrassed by the prospect of retreating back on the deal, which was passed by the Union Cabinet. Reports indicated that the Prime Minister has hinted at resigning from the office, since he does not want to lead a 'lame-duck' government after succumbing to the Left's opposition to the deal. Peeved by remarks of some coalition partners like Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party and Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK), where they had stated that nuclear deal was not an important an issue to put the government's stability at stake, Singh reportedly asked the coalition partners to give their final stand on the issue.During his return from South Africa, last week, Singh had told reporters that the deal was passed by the Cabinet, where representatives of the coalition partners had already given their assent to it."This agreement (123-agreement) was approved by the Cabinet. So where is the question of the UPA going back on it?" Singh had said. However, the Congress later today dismissed reports of Manmohan Singh's resignation and also said that the UPA partners had not expressed their reservation over the deal."They (UPA leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Pawar and M Karunanidhi) have never said that," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters. The Congress party also said that it wants to save the government as well as to get the civilian nuclear deal with the US materialise. "We want both," quipped Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi when asked whether the party was ready to save the coalition by sacrificing the deal.The Prime Minister, who had said that the failure of operationalising the deal would not mean the end of the day as his party was not a single-issue government and had several other agendas to fulfil, had earlier stated that he was still hopeful of the deal.On Saturday, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury had expressed his hope that today's meeting would be the last one with CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan making it clear that during Monday's meeting the UPA government should officially state that the nuclear deal has been put on hold.As the October month is coming to an end, the deadline for getting a safeguard agreement with the IAEA is drawing near and that has led to an assessment that the bilateral agreement could be difficult to operationalise with steps like amendment in the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group's charter and the passing of the 123-agreement by the Congress could be carried out only after the agreement with the UN nuclear agency.The civilian nuclear cooperation deal aims to lift a three-decade ban on sales of US nuclear fuel and reactors to India, which was imposed after it conducted a nuclear test in 1974 while staying out of non-proliferation agreements.The Left Front, which provides crucial support to the government from outside, has been opposing the deal and the situation between UPA and Left reached a nadir, sparking the prospect of snap elections. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115302,33645, Kullu, Oct.22 (ANI): As the Dussehra festival was celebrated across the country on Sunday with the burning of the effigies of demon King Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna and his son Meghnath, people in Himachal have begun celebrating the week-long Kullu Dussehra.Tens of thousands of people congregate in Kullu to participate in the event.Kullu's royal Pal family, dressed in their finest, perform the rituals associated with the festival that is marked by traditional dances and massive processions.Kullu Dussehra dates back to the 17th century when the local King Jaganand installed an idol of Raghunath (Lord Rama) on his throne as an act of penance, after which the Lord Raghunatha came to be known as the ruling deity of the valley."Ravana was vanquished on a full moon night. There used to be a time when Dussehra would finish on the full moon night. During British times, it was agreed to have a seven-day event," said Maheshwar Singh, a descendent of Kullu's erstwhile royal family.Over 250 to 300 deities are said to descend from their temples to pay obeisance to Lord Raghunatha, the presiding deity of the Kullu Dussehra. Idols of these deities are brought from different parts of Kullu and adjoining Mandi District and are kept at a camp at Dhalpur area. And, the people who carry the deities here also camp along with them.These people are then formally invited to come for the Dussehra festivities by the State Government, which pays them an incentive which range from Rs.10, 000 to Rs.70, 000.The grand festival also draws a lot of tourists."It's very different. We have rituals too but you know they are… and we have big rituals. But I think all the people here are more (involved) with the rituals than in our country. There is more distance between ritual and feelings there," said Beatrix, an Austrian tourist.In 1972, the Kullu Dussehra was declared an "international festival". Since then it has assumed a multi-lingual dimension and cultural troupes from abroad and various parts of the country also perform during the festival. The festival, which symbolises the triumph of good over evil, is marked by prayers, processions and musical programmes based on the Ramayana.The week-long Kullu Dussehra festival concludes with the sacrifice of a buffalo, a rooster, a lamb, a fish and a crab. Simultaneously, a huge pile of grass is set on fire symbolising the burning of Lanka, the kingdom of Ravana. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115257,58171, Imphal, Oct 22 (ANI): Upset with the constant extortion demands, sports officials and players want to root out nefarious elements from Manipur society. When Marykom of Manipur won the gold medal in the World Women's Boxing Championship in Delhi last year, she brought laurels for the country and Manipur in particular. But the militants who claim to fight for Manipur's pride are actually killing the honour of the state by stifling the sports' authorities. These officials went on strike against the extortion demands served on them by an underground group. "We have told them that we don't have money. We are scarifying for our job only and for the achievement of our player. We are giving our effort to bring up our player to national and international level. Besides, they are demanding high amount," said, a sports official. Sport stadiums and playgrounds, were empty. At a time, when the state players are preparing for next year's Asian games and Commonwealth Game, the sudden break in practice has been a big blow not only to the players but also for the state. "We are fighting for the future. We want to do some good for our state and for the country. We are practicing day and night. We don't have any option," said one of the players. Another player added, "We have been affected a lot. Our daily playing session has been disturbed due to the demand by some groups." Last month, sports person and officials in Manipur also came out on the streets to protest against the harassment meted out by the underground groups. In the absence of large scale industries and adequate employment avenues, sports are the only area where talented youngsters find a living. For Manipuris, sports are a means to socio economic upliftment, but the act as brakes on the ambitions and growth of the young generation. "If I don't pay the demand, I am not secure. As long as I pay the demand, I am secure," a player, said. Manipur is a hub of sporting talents. Take any football club in the country and you will find five or six players who are Manipuris. The state today has the largest number of medal holders as the last two National games have proved. This strength in sports has come despite a lack of proper infrastructure. It's the sheer zest for the game and a desire to change their socio economic lives, that drive Manipuris but the underground groups want to put an end to this march to progress. (ANI) http://www.my-india.net/cgi-bin/n/viewnews.cgi?newsid1193115180,79488, New Delhi, Oct 22 (ANI) : The Congress party on Monday said that it wants to save the government as well as to get the civilian nuclear deal with the US materialise, and efforts are on in this regard. “We want both,” quipped Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi when asked whether the party was ready to save the coalition by sacrificing the deal.This comes amidst rising political temperatures in the national capital after UPA convened an emergency meeting where an ‘embarrassed’ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly hinted to resign from the office because of the prospects of retreating back from the Indo-US nuclear deal in the wake of Left’s opposition over the bilateral agreement.The Congress party today also criticised the Left Front Government in West Bengal over the scam in its Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) that has raised the banner of revolt in several districts of the State, as angry villagers are going on a rampage and looting the food grain warehouses. Criticising the State Government for not fulfilling the basic needs of common people in the State, the Congress spokesperson said, “Food grain availability is the paramount need of poor people.”The party today also dismissed reports of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation. Singh, who had said that the failure of operationalising the deal would not mean the end of the day as his party was not a single-issue government and had several other agendas to fulfil, had earlier stated that he was still hopeful of the deal.Meanwhile, Left leaders are also meeting ahead of their with talks with the UPA government and speculations are rife that today’s meet could be the last one.CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury had expressed his hope that the meeting would be the last one with CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan making it clear that during Monday’s meeting the UPA government should officially state that the nuclear deal has been put on hold.As the October month is coming to an end, the deadline for getting a safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also drawing near that has led to an assessment that the bilateral agreement could be difficult to operationalise as steps like amendment in the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group’s charter and the passing of the 123-agreement by the Congress would follow only after that.The civilian nuclear cooperation deal aims to lift a three-decade ban on sales of US nuclear fuel and reactors to India, which was imposed after it conducted a nuclear test in 1974 while staying out of non-proliferation agreements.The Left Front, which provides crucial support to the government from outside, has been opposing the deal and the situation between UPA and Left reached a nadir, sparking the prospect of snap elections. (ANI)