Defending champions Germany secure bronze at Junior Hockey WC

Germany outclassed Australia 3-0 in the third-fourth place play-off match at the Junior Hockey World Cup.

Germany Junior hockey team

Six-time champions and title holders Germany had to contend themselves with the bronze medal after outclassing Australia 3-0 in the third-fourth place play-off match at the men’s Junior Hockey World Cup on Sunday.

The Germans, who were the two-time defending champions, completely dominated the encounter and took the lead in the 11th minute through Jan Schiffer s brilliant field strike.

Leading 1-0 at half-time, the Germans then rode on Tim Herbruch’s brace (51st, 60th) to take a commanding 3-0 lead which the Australians failed to match.

Earlier in the day, Argentina defeated Spain 2-1 to claim the fifth spot in the tournament, while Netherlands drubbed England 6-2 to finish seventh.

In the fifth-sixth classification match, Argentina struck twice within four minutes in the second half after both the teams failed to break the deadlock in the opening 35 minutes.

The Argentines took the lead in the in the 51st minute through a field goal from Nicolas Keenan before Tomas Domene (54th) doubled the lead three minutes later from a penalty corner.

Spain, thereafter, pushed hard in search of goals and managed to pull one back through Marc Perellon’s (67th) field strike just three minutes from the final hooter.

In the seventh-eighth place classification match earlier in the day, the Dutch scored through Thijs van Dam (22nd), Thierry Brinkman (41st, 68th), Bram van Groesen (56th, 69th) and Morris de Vilder (65th), while Tom Sorsby (55th, 66th) scored a brace for the Englishmen.

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India can avoid being ‘accident capital of the world’

Supreme Court (Photo: SNS)

The year 2014 alone witnessed 2.37 lakh road accidents on national and state highways across the country which had left at least 85,462 people dead and 2.59 lakh injured.

These were the sensational findings in official statistics placed before the Supreme Court, which noted that as per 2009 data, India had reported the highest number of road accident fatalities in the world which clearly indicated that a road accident occurred every four minutes.

India can avoid the tag of being the “accident capital of the world”, was how the apex court reacted on scanning the figures of vehicular deaths over the past several years while stressing on the need for “proper enforcement” of law preventing drunken driving.

The apex court said proper enforcement of law was needed for a nation like India, which is on the cusp of economic development, to protect precious human lives from road mishaps specially due to drunken driving.

The remarks were made by the top court in its December 15 judgement by which it ordered a ban on all liquor shops on national and state highways across the country while making it clear that licenses of the existing shops will not be renewed after March 31 next year.

“Human life is precious. As the road network expands in India, road infrastructure being an integral part of economic development, accidents profoundly impact on the life of common citizen. For a nation on the cusp of economic development, India can well avoid the tag of being the accident capital of the world,” a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said.

The bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, took note of the statistics placed before it by the government agencies, according to which total number of persons killed in road accidents on the national highways was 48,768 in 2012 which shot up to 51,204 in 2015.

In 2014, there were 1.24 lakh accident cases resulting in 46,110 deaths and 1.35 lakh persons injured in mishaps on the national highways while on state highways, the figure was 1.13 lakh accidents in which 1.24 lakh people were injured and 39,352 had been killed.

“The expressways witnessed 4,208 accident cases, 4,229 injured and 1,802 deaths. Figures are also available of the distribution of road accidents by causes during 2014. 1.38 lakh persons were injured in road accidents involving dangerous or careless driving and 42,127 deaths occurred.

“Injuries caused in accidents due to over-speeding stood at 1.81 lakh while there were 48,654 deaths. 7,307 accident cases involving driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol were registered resulting in 7,398 injuries and 2,591 deaths,” the bench noted in its order.

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Let China keep US underwater drone it seized: Trump

Donald Trump (Photo: AFP)

In yet another swipe at China, President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday said the US should let the Communist giant keep the Navy’s unmanned underwater drone after Beijing agreed to return in an “appropriate manner” the device it had seized in the disputed South China Sea.

“We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back – let them keep it!” Trump tweeted, hours after Pentagon announced it had reached an understanding with China for the return of the drone.

The Pentagon had alleged that the drone was unlawfully seized by China on December 15 in the SCS while it was being recovered by a US Navy oceanographic survey ship.

The US lodged a formal diplomatic complaint and demanded the drone back. The incident is among the most serious military confrontations between the two powers for decades.

China yesterday slammed the US for “making a fuss” over the seizure of its underwater drone and said it will return the device in an “appropriate manner”.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Senior Colonel Yang Yujun dismissed the US allegations, insisting that China seized the underwater glider to ensure the safe navigation of passing ships.

Trump’s latest tweet was the second time the President-elect blasted China for the seizure.

Earlier, he accused China of stealing American drone.

“China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented (sic) act,” Trump tweeted, misspelling unprecedented.

He later reissued the tweet, correcting the spelling.

Trump has repeatedly infuriated China in recent weeks, questioning decades-old US policy on Taiwan, making phone call to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and calling Beijing a currency manipulator.

The drone incident, the latest encounter in international waters in the South China Sea region, occurred earlier this week about 161 km off the Philippine port at Subic Bay.

The USNS Bowditch had stopped in the water to pick up two underwater drones. At that point, a Chinese naval ship that had been shadowing the Bowditch put a small boat into the water. That small boat came up alongside and the Chinese crew took one of the drones.

The US got no answer from the Chinese on the radio when it said the drone was American property, a US defense official was quoted as saying by the CNN.

As they turned away, the Chinese did come up on the radio and indicated they were returning to their own operations.

US oceanographic research vessels are often followed in the water under the assumption they are spying.

Although it is unclear what the motivation was for the Chinese action, the seizing of the drone comes on the heels of other provocative incidents that have happened since Trump received a congratulatory call from Taiwan’s President, a violation of the US’s agreement with China’s “One China policy.” China publicly voiced its disapproval of that incident and protested to the White House at the time.

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KJo wants to learn how to say ‘no’

Karan Johar (Photo: Facebook)

Filmmaker Karan Johar wants to master the art of saying ‘no’.

Reacting to author Paulo Coelho’s Twitter post about “learn to say NO without explaining yourself”, Karan said that: “An art I have to master.”

On the professional front, Karan is enjoying the success of his film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil which released after a lot of turbulence.

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Court confirms ED seizure order worth Rs.749 cr against Jagan, others

YSR Congress chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (Photo: Twitter)

A special anti-money laundering court here has confirmed an attachment of assets order worth over Rs.749 crore issued by the ED against YSR Congress chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, his wife and others in a money laundering case.

The agency had attached the said assets in June this year as part of its probe against Jagan under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

“On a thorough perusal of the Provisional Attachment Order (PAO), relied upon documents, the investigations conducted by the ED and the statements recorded….and on careful consideration of the arguments advanced on behalf of the complainant (ED) and defendants (Jagan and others) undersigned comes to the prima facie conclusion that the defendants have committed the scheduled offences, generated proceeds of crime and laundered them.

“No doubt, the properties attached are proceeds of crime or value there of and are involved in money laundering.

Undersigned therefore orders confirmation of the above PAO,” an order issued by a three-member bench of the Adjudicating Authority of the PMLA here said.

The bench comprised Authority Chairperson Mukesh Kumar, Member (Law) Tushar V Shah and Member (Administration) Devendra Singhai.

The order added that the defendants “are in possession of proceeds of crime within the meaning of provisions of PMLA…”

The Enforcement Directorate, while issuing the order in June, had said its investigations found that Jagan laundered the proceeds of crime through his group companies Ms Sandur Power Company Pvt Ltd, Ms Classic Realty Pvt Ltd, Ms Silicon Builders Pvt Ltd, Ms Saraswati Power and Industries Pvt Ltd and 10 other firms in the form of investments, purchase of movable and immovable properties, third party payments among others.

Apart from it, the agency had said, Ms Bharathi Cement Corporation Pvt Ltd has received the proceeds of crime in the form of limestone mined from the mines allotted illegally to them in Kadapa district by then Andhra Pradesh government. The value of limestone works out to be more than Rs.152 crore during the relevant period, it had said.

“During investigations under PMLA, the proceeds of crime involved in money laundering were identified in the form of movable (Rs.404,72,32,182) and immovable properties (Rs. 344,38,10,378) totally valued at Rs.749.10 crore,” the ED order had said.

These attached properties are spread across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

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4 Tata firms to vote on Mistry’s removal as director this week

Cyrus Mistry (PHOTO: Facebook)

In what could prove to be a crucial week in the ongoing boardroom war between Tata Sons and its ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry, four listed firms of the group will vote on resolutions to remove him as director from their boards.

All eyes will be on the outcome of voting by shareholders of Indian Hotels Co Ltd (IHCL), Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Chemicals at their EGMs to be held on December 20-23.

Besides deciding the fate of Mistry, shareholders of three companies — Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Chemicals will also vote on similar resolutions moved by Tata Sons to remove independent director Nusli Wadia from their boards.

Shareholders of IHCL will vote on removing Mistry as director. Tata Sons holds 28.01 per cent stake in the company.

According to the information available on BSE, as on September 2016, promoter and promoter group together held 38.65 per cent stake in IHCL. One of the key non-promoter shareholders, LIC, which had abstained in a similar voting in TCS, holds 8.76 per cent.

Mistry on his own holds 1,28,625 shares in the company, as per IHCL’s 2015-16 Annual Report.

In Tata Steel, Tata Sons holds 29.75 per cent while the total of promoter and promoter group holding is 31.35 per cent while non-promoter shareholder LIC holds 13.62 per cent.

Tata Sons holds 26.51 per cent stake in Tata Motors, while the overall promoter and promoter group holding is at 33 per cent, while that of LIC is at 5.11 per cent. Mistry holds 14,500 shares in his individual capacity.

On the other hand, in Tata Chemicals, Tata Sons has 19.35 per cent stake and the total of promoter and promoter group holding is at 30.80 per cent, while that of LIC is 3.33 per cent. Mistry’s holding is 16,000 shares.

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Reflections

13 killed in Indonesia plane crash

Representational Image (Photo: Getty Images/File)

At least 13 persons were killed when a military plane crashed in eastern part of the country on Sunday, officials said.

Hercules C-130 plane operated by the Indonesian Air Force went down in Papua, killing everyone an board, Xinhua news agency quoted air force spokesman Jemi Trisonjaya as saying.

Three pilots and 10 military personnel died, BBC quoted an official as saying.

According to Indonesian Air force chief Agus Supriatna, bad weather suspectedly caused the accident.

The Hercules was carrying food supplies from Timika to Wamena when it came down in mountainous terrain near its destination.

Indonesia has a poor air safety record.

In June 2015, the same type of plane of the country’s air force crashed near a residential neighbourhood shortly after taking off from Medan.

All 12 crew and 109 passengers on board were killed, along with 22 people on the ground.

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Daniel Radcliffe loves to shock people by smoking

(Photo: Getty Images)

Actor Daniel Radcliffe likes to shock people by asking them for cigarette lighters because most people don’t expect the “Harry Potter” star to smoke.

“I do smoke and I like roll-ups. I get a kick out of asking people for a light – I’m always losing lighters. They fumble in their pockets, look up and realise they’ve committed the crime of giving Harry Potter cancer,” Radcliffe told the Sun Newspaper, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He is currently dating a New-York based actress Erin Darke and says the pair have a romantic trans-Atlantic love.

“I live in both London and New York. My girlfriend and I hop back and forth, so we’re constantly saying goodbye but looking forward to seeing each other. It’s quite a romantic state to be in,” he said.

And although the actor loved working on the “Harry Potter” movies, he is happy to have moved on from the role of the young wizard.

He said: “I’m not Harry Potter any more, but I don’t regret a day of it. I had the time of my life. People look at me with pity sometimes. I know it’s because they think I didn’t have a childhood, that I was like a slave to the ‘Potter’ set.

“But it was fun hanging out with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, and the most fascinating grown-ups like Alan Rickman, Julie Walters and Maggie Smith. You don’t meet those characters every day and they were like family to me.”

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Longer waiting time on Delhi Metro’s Violet Line on Sunday

(Photo: Getty Images)

Services on Delhi Metro's Violet Line, which stretches from Escort Mujesar in neighbouring Haryana's Faridabad to ITO in central Delhi, will be slower on Sunday afternoon due to scheduled maintenance work on a stretch of the line, a statement said.

While on usual days, the average wait time between trains remains around two to three minutes, on Sunday, this will be longer between 12 noon and 4 p.m., said the Delhi Metro statement.

It said the delay is ensued as trains will be run only on one track on the Badarpur-Sarita Vihar section in this period to facilitate the scheduled track maintenance work on the Line between Badarpur Border and Mohan Estate Metro stations, which has to be undertaken during day time only.

Commuters waiting for trains for metro towards Mandi House and Central Secretariat may have to wait around 14 minutes between trains, while the wait between Sarita Vihar and Escort Mujesar Station can be around 11 minutes, Metro officials said.

After 4 p.m., the frequency of the trains will be back to normal, they said.

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Mere development not enough to win election: Swamy

Photo: Facebook

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Saturday said mere development of the society or nation was not enough to win the election and BJP can never win an election until it pushes forward Hindutva as it’s core agenda.

Addressing a gathering in the Ruia College here, he said, “People often say that the governments should focus on developmental works, which should be, but our history says something else. It says that whichever government focused on only development in India could never win the election.”

Swamy was here to release the book “Sachchai” written by Shivsena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut.

“Be it Narasimha Rao who abolished licence raj, Rajiv Gandhi who introduced industrial revolution in the country, Morarji Desai who brought down the prices of rations or N Chandra Babu Naidu, the reformer of Andhra Pradesh…

All these people lost in subsequent elections,” Swamy added.

“And we should not forget Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji too … who put forth India Shining slogan. Of course India was shining at economic front, but he could not win the election and number of seats were reduced to half,” the BJP leader added.

“And this is why I emphasise that developmental works for a government are necessary but not everything,” Swamy said.

“We won 2014 election on two basis. Putting forth the Gujarat model of governance and people set aside their caste perception, rose above it and voted for Hindutva. This is why I always moot Hindutva as a core issue to address and govern our country which is predominantly Hindu,” he added.

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1st Test: Ali, Younis stabalise Pakistan after hiccups on Day 3

Azhar Ali (41) and Younis Khan (0) were on crease as Pakistan reach 70/2 at stumps on the third day.

Younis Khan, Azhar Ali (Photo: AFP)

Pakistan lost two wickets in their second innings to reach 70 for 2 at stumps on the third day of the first Test against Australia at the Brisbane Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Chasing a mammoth 490, Pakistan lost opener Sami Aslam (15) and Babar Azam (14) cheaply but Azhar Ali (41*) and veteran batsman Younis Khan (0*) ensured there were no more hiccups towards the fag end of the day.

Earlier, Australia declared their second essay at 202 for 5 after bundling out Pakistan for a meagre 142.

Skipper Steve Smith (63 off 70 balls) and Usman Khawaja (74 off 109) forged together an 111-run third-wicket stand to accumulate some quick runs before declaring their second innings.

For Pakistan, pacer Rahat Ali took two wickets while Mohammed Amir, Yasir Shah and Wahab Riaz chipped in with one wicket apiece.

In reply, Pakistan once again started on a disastrous note with Aslam perishing to pacer Mitchell Starc before off-spinner Nathan Lyon added to the casualty list with the wicket of Azam to reduce the visitors to 54 for 2.

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108 ambulance workers go on strike in Odisha

(Photo: odisha.gov.in)

Emergency health care services were badly hit in certain parts of Odisha on Saturday as employees of 108 ambulance services went on strike demanding better and timely payment of their remuneration.

Drivers, attendants and emergency medical technicians joined the agitation called by the 108 Ambulance Service Workers’ Association.

“A private organisation has been assigned the job of operating ambulance service in the state. The organisation is not paying remuneration to the employees regularly,” Manoj Kumar Sahoo, secretary of the association, said.

The Association had earlier launched a similar agitation in March this year demanding fulfilment of their 12-point charter of demands.

The state presently has 420 numbers of 108 ambulances in which more than 3,000 employees including drivers and paramedical staff have been working, he said.

“The private organisation had promised to pay salary by December 10. Though six days have passed since the date, we are yet to receive our salary,” an employee said, adding they are not “happy by putting patients in trouble”.

Sabyasachi Biswal, head of Ziqitza Healthcare Ltd that operates the 108 ambulance service, said the payment was delayed due to some problem with the banks.

“It will be resolved very soon. The employees too will resume their duties very soon,” he said.