Assamese poet Hiren Bhattacharyya passes away

Guwahati: Award-winning Assamese poet Hiren Bhattacharyya, 80, died of lung infection at a private hospital in Guwahati on Wednesday.

Bhattacharyya, popularly known as Hiruda, was undergoing treatment at Dispur Hospital since June 14. 

He breathed his last breath at 11.20 a.m. on Wednesday.

Known as the "Poet of Love and Sunshine", Bhattacharyya was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 and Assam Valley Literary Award in 2000.

He penned at least 11 collections of poetry and books on nursery rhymes.

Many of his poems have been turned into songs by renowned Assamese singers.

His most popular collection, "Sugandhi Pokhila" ("Fragrant Butterflies"), has been translated into English.

ATM for blind launched in Sharjah

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates: In a first in the Middle East as well as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a teller machine for blind and visually impaired people has been launched in Sharjah by the Sharjah Islamic Bank.

The ATM features a large Braille keypad, high resolution screen, wide keys, headphone and external speaker to ensure the user's privacy.

The user needs to choose fewer options than in a normal ATM.

Though the machine is designed for the visually impaired, it can also be used by others.

The ATM is located at the Emirates Association for the Blind headquarters in Sharjah, where visually impaired people will be trained to use the machine by a team from the bank.

The ruler of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, had recently ordered banks in the emirate to offer facilities to the blind in response to a telephone call made by Manar Al Hamadi, a blind lawyer.

The Sharjah Islamic Bank later opened a bank account for the lawyer.    

Scientists to unveil milestone in Higgs Boson or God Particle hunt

London: Scientists hunting the elusive subatomic 'Higgs' particle will unveil findings on Wednesday that take them nearer to understanding how the Big Bang at the dawn of time gave rise to stars, planets and even life.

Physicists who have been smashing particles together near light-speed at the CERN laboratory near Geneva have already seen tantalising glimpses of the "Higgs boson", the missing piece of the fundamental theory of physics known as the Standard Model.

The world of science now awaits a mass of evidence big enough to be deemed a formal discovery. The secrecy surrounding Wednesday's announcement has fuelled speculation that nearly 40 years of research have reached a climax.


Data harvested from CERN's Large Hadron Collider, the biggest particle accelerator in the world, could also shed light on the make-up of the poorly understood 'dark matter' and "dark energy" that make up 96 percent of the universe. It may even point the way to research into the possibility of parallel universes.

CERN is planning to beam the announcement live around the world to a physics conference inMelbourne, Australia. Related events are planned in countries involved in the project, including Britain. The unusual level of stage management has fuelled the sense that big news is on the cards.

On Monday, U.S. physicists said they had found the strongest evidence yet of the existence of the Higgs in a mass of data collected from the now-mothballed Tevatron particle accelerator, run by the Fermi National Accelerator Lab outside Chicago.
"It will be interesting to see how it lines up with CERN's results on Wednesday," said CERN spokesmanJames Gillies.

Some scientists working on the project have told Reuters they expect the unveiling of a formal discovery while others expect it to fall just short.

With thousands of physicists involved, divided into two separate teams called Atlas and CMS, CERNinsists the full picture will not be clear to anyone until a seminar shortly before Wednesday's announcement.

"Even CERN's director general won't know much before the seminar reveals the exact results," said Pauline Gagnon, a Canadian particle physicist working on Atlas. "They are being finalised at the last minute after much scrutiny."

The Higgs particle, although crucial for understanding how the universe was formed, remains theoretical. It is the last undiscovered piece of the Standard Model that describes the fundamental make-up of the universe. The model is for physicists what the theory of evolution is for biologists.

Scientists say the existence of dark matter and dark energy suggests the Standard Model, if validated by a Higgs discovery, is just the first layer of a more complex theory that includes the vast bulk of the universe that is now poorly understood.

"The Standard Model has a few major flaws; the Higgs boson discovery would only fix one of them," said Gagnon.

"We still have no clue regarding what makes 96 percent of the content of the universe. This should keep us physicists busy for a few more decades."

Air India pilots to call off their strike soon

Air India pilots have ended their 57-day long strike on Tuesday. The pilots have given the decision to join back to work in writing to the Air India management. A total of 434 pilots were on strike and all of them have agreed to end the strike.

Sources say Air India management will now consider the reinstatement of 100 odd pilots who were terminated earlier.

Agitating Air India pilots told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that they will call off their strike with immediate effect.

Air India management assured the court that it will sympathetically consider the pilots' grievances, including reinstatement of sacked pilots.

Child survives fall from 10th floor of Mumbai high-rise

Mumbai: A four-year-old girl miraculously survived after falling from the 10th floor of a building in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.

Although the incident happened about three weeks ago, the matter came to light only after Pari Yadav's parents decided to file a complaint against her baby sitter on July 2 after the little girl was discharged from the hospital.

Pari was with the baby sitter when she fell from the balcony of the creche located on the 10th floor of Monarch Orchid, Sector 19, Kharghar. 


Incidentally, the Yadavs reside on the 9th floor of the same building.

Pari was rushed to the hospital after she landed on a bushy tree, which cushioned her fall.

"Since both of us are working, for a year we have been keeping our baby at the creche on the 10th floor of our building."

"On June 11, the baby sitter, Alka Shukla informed us that our baby fell down from the balcony and she has admitted her to a hospital. The doctor informed us that she has received thigh and eye injuries," said Anupam Yadav, the girl's mother.

"I have filled a complaint against the baby sitter at Kharghar police station, and I believe it is a clear cut case of negligence. I accept that it was a mistake to keep my baby with such irresponsible people at the same time it is also the duty of the baby sitter to keep a watch on the activities of the kids," Yadav further added.

Police Inspector Pramod Bovte, who is also the investigation officer in the case, said, "We have registered a case of negligence against the baby sitter based on the complaint by Pari's parents. We will investigate the matter further to know what actually transpired.

However, resident at Monarch Orchid are not too convinced about the Yadavs' allegations against the baby sitter. 
 
According to a resident who did not wish to be named, the creche has been providing service for years and so far there were no complaints against them and this is just one "unfortunate incident."