Pakistan has rejected US criticism of its efforts to fight terrorism, saying it should not be made a scapegoat for the failure of the U.S. military to win the war in Afghanistan.
USPresident Donald Trump unveiled his policy for Afghanistan on Monday, stepping up the military campaign against Taliban insurgents and singling out Pakistan for harbouring them. US officials later warned that aid to Pakistan might be cut and Washington might downgrade nuclear-armed Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally, in order to pressure it to do more to help bring about an end to America’s longest-running war. Pakistan’s powerful military chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, met U.S. Ambassador David Hale on Wednesday and told him Pakistan was actively working for peace in Afghanistan.
“We have done a lot … and shall keep on doing our best, not to appease anyone but in line with our national interest and national policy,” Bajwa was quoted in an army press statement as telling Hale. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif added his voice to a chorus of indignation over the U.S. criticism, reiterating Pakistan’s denial that it harbours militants. “They should not make Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures in Afghanistan,” Asif said in an interview with Geo TV late on Tuesday.
New Delhi, Aug 23: India today released seven Pakistani prisoners and stressed the need to address all humanitarian issues, including early and full consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav and Hamid Nehal Ansari, who are in Pakistan’s custody.
The External Affairs Ministry in a statement also said that release of 300 Indian prisoners, including 295 fishermen, has been secured during 2017 so far.
Seven Pakistani prisoners, who have completed their sentence and whose nationality has been confirmed by Pakistani authorities, were repatriated to Pakistan via Attari/Wagah, the ministry said.
“The government of India attaches highest importance to addressing all humanitarian matters, including early and full consular access to all Indian nationals in Pakistan’s custody, including Jadhav and Ansari and secure their early release and repatriation,” it said.
Jadhav is in Pakistan’s custody after it claimed to have arrested him last year from the restive Baluchistan region and alleged that he was involved in terror activities.
However, India has been maintaining that the former Navy official was kidnapped from Iran where he had legal business interest.
India has also moved the International Court of Justice against the death sentence given to Jadhav by a Pakistani army court. The court has stayed the execution pending a final verdict by it.
A five-judge bench in the Supreme Court is likely to pronounce the verdict on the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the practices of triple talaq on Tuesday.
A bench had earlier reserved its verdict on May 18 after six-days of marathon hearings.
Parties including the Centre, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board and others had made their submissions on for and against the practice.
New Delhi, Aug 22: To ensure that no deserving candidate misses out on the Arjuna award, the sports ministry is planning to revise the criteria for selection, which would allow un-nominated athletes to be considered for the honour.
It has been learnt from reliable sources that Sports Minister Vijay Goel has already started discussions on changing the selection criteria.
“See, the credentials of the selection committee have never been questioned and transparency is also there. Eminent people are always part of the committee but we have to revise the scheme from next year,” a Sports Ministry official, privy to the development told PTI.
“Soon, new guidelines will be put in place and even those who have not applied or have not been nominated by their respective Federations, will be considered if they have performed well and are deserving,” added the official.
Asked if it was being done to avoid a fiasco like the one involving tennis player Rohan Bopanna, who has been consistently ignored despite good performance, the official said the exercise is meant to revamp an old system.
“It’s not about any individual. The system needs an upgradation, so it can be considered suo moto by the committee.”
The new criteria will allow every selection committee member to consider deserving athletes, who have not been nominated. On the advise of that member, the panel will be able to evaluate whether the athlete can be selected for the honour.
Bopanna, who won the French Open mixed doubles title in June, missed out on the award since his nomination reached the ministry only after the deadline of April 28 had passed.
The committee did not consider Bopanna’s case and chose Saketh Myneni, who won a gold and a silver at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
Recently, when Mithali Raj became the highest run-getter in women’s cricket history, there was a clamour for a Khel Ratna for her. However, since she was not nominated, the committee did not consider her case.
It has also been learnt that one of the committee members, before the selection panel meeting on August 3, had inquired if Mithali’s name would also be discussed. The member was told that it cannot be done since she was not nominated either by the BCCI or any other organisation.
Ever since the selection panel recommended names for this year’s Awards, the selection criteria has been a subject of fierce debate in the sporting fraternity.
As per the current system, athletes are awarded points on the basis of their performances in the World Cup/World Championship, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Championships and Commonwealth Championships.
However, certain athletes, such as those who pursue motorsport, cannot be considered since the sport does not figure in any of the mentioned championships.
It will be interesting to see if the ministry also considers revising the system to award points.
The Centre will provide Rs 70,000 as monthly fellowship to those researchers doing their PhDs in IITs or IISc, Union higher education secretary Kewal Kumar Sharma has said.
Presently researcher-students get Rs 25,000 as monthly scholarship at IITs. “As part of the research fellowship scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we wish the meritorious students who are being forced to leave the country for purely financial reasons stay within the country. “We will provide 2,000 such monthly fellowships across the IIT system and IISc Bengaluru,” Sharma said at the 67th Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur at its Kharagpur campus in West Midnapore district on Friday. It will be given for a period of five years, he said.
This will also enable meritorious researchers, keen to further their research but forced to opt for corporate jobs for higher pay, to pursue their goal, he said. However, the scholarship recipients can’t do any other job, the senior official said. “The cabinet nod for the proposal should come soon. We are hopeful to start it from the next session,” he said. IIT-KGP director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti later said, “This is a very good proposal.”
Soldiering in arctic conditions is tough, but it will not remain so for long now as a team of researchers is all set to all set to change the game.
To keep military personnel more comfortable and battle-ready in bitterly cold climes, scientists are now conducting research aimed at creating high-tech fabrics that heat up when powered and that capture sweat. These fabrics could also conceivably make their way to consumer clothing in the future.
The researchers are presented their results at the 254th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Much of the Army’s cold-weather hand gear was designed more than 30 years ago, so soldiers often opt to buy winter gloves at retail stores, researcher Paola D’Angelo said. But even this modern gear isn’t enough to prevent paratroopers from losing feeling in their hands and feet when they parachute to earth in arctic conditions.
“That’s problematic if soldiers have to operate weapons as soon as they land,” D’Angelo noted. “So we want to pursue this fundamental research to see if we can modify hand wear for that extreme cold weather.”
The work was inspired by research led by Yi Cui at Stanford University. Cui’s team synthesized very fine silver nanowires, and then placed a network of the wires on cotton. By applying power to the silver nanowires, the researchers could heat the fabric.
The team is working to extend this silver nanowire idea to fabrics suitable for military uniforms, such as polyester and a cotton/nylon blend. The Army team found that applying a mere 3 volts to 1-inch by 1-inch test swatches of these fabrics, the output of a typical watch battery, raises the temperature by 100 degrees Fahrenheit in just one minute.
If these experimental fabrics can ultimately be used in uniforms, soldiers could dial up or down the voltage to vary the amount of heat their uniforms produce to match weather conditions. The added heating means uniforms could be thinner and lighter, an advantage for soldiers who must carry heavy loads and walk long distances.
The scientists are also incorporating a layer of sweat-absorbing hydrogel particles made of polyethylene glycol or poly(N-isopropylacrylamide). The researchers think these particles might stop other layers in the fabrics from getting wet, which would keep soldiers more comfortable during missions. After they return to base, the soldiers could release the sweat from their uniforms by hanging them up to dry in the warmer indoor air.
The silver nanowires on the fabrics can withstand repeated laundering, and now the researchers are working out how best to apply the hydrogel so it’s equally durable. D’Angelo and coworkers will also investigate how the silver mesh and hydrogel interact with each other. Another research direction for the team is to consider different power sources for the silver mesh, because batteries would add too much weight to uniforms.
Once D’Angelo and her colleagues optimize the fabric for gloves, they might extend the technology to clothing for the chest and legs. And ultimately, she says, it could make its way into consumer products.
Scientists in the UK have developed the world’s smallest surgical robot with low-cost technology used in mobile phones and space industries.
The robot, called Versius, mimics the human arm and can be used to carry out a wide range of procedures in which a series of small incisions are made to circumvent the need for traditional open surgery.
These include hernia repairs, colorectal operations, as well as prostate, ear, nose and throat surgery.
Such procedures reduce complications and pain after surgery and speed up recovery time for patients.
The robot is controlled by a surgeon at a console guided by a 3D screen in the operating theatre.
The robot is much easier to use than existing systems, and take up about a third of the space of current machines.
For robots to revolutionise surgery, they need to be versatile, easy to use and small so that surgical staff can move them around the operating room or between operating theatres, or pack them away when they are not being used.
“Our robot does all of this and is the first robotic arm to be designed specifically for laparoscopic surgery,” said Martin Frost, chief executive of the Cambridge Medical Robotics.
One of the key benefits of the robot is that it works like a human arm and contains technology that detects resistance to make sure the right amount of force is used when the instruments are inside the patient, ‘The Guardian’ reported.
Researchers used electronics from mobile phones to help the robot “think” and process information, and gear box technology originally designed for the space industry to help it move.
The robot is set to be launched next year.
(This article has not been edited by DNA’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)