ప్రపంచం తీరూ తెన్నూ

Are you a Facebook addict? Beware, it may get you an asthma attack, scientists claim. A team of Italian doctors, who looked at a young man who had reportedly suffered several asthma attacks after logging into Facebook, said social networking websites could be a new source of psychological stress for depressed people. According to their report, published in the medical journal The Lancet, the 18-year-old young man was depressed because his girlfriend had broken up with him. She also deleted him from Facebook, while "friending" many new young men. With a new nickname on Facebook, the young man succeeded in becoming her friend once again and finally in seeing her picture on her Facebook profile. But the sight of her girlfriend seemed to induce shortness of breath, which happened repeatedly on the patient accessing her profile. The doctors, led by Dr Gennaro D'Amato of High Speciality Hospital A Cardarelli, Naples, Italy, said: "The (man's) mother was advised to ...

India's gold imports likely to cross the 750-tonne mark this year due to increasing consumer demand for jewellery despite soaring prices. This is the level which touched in 2007. Gold imports in this year already exceeded 2009 levels, the World Gold Council (WGC) has said in it's report Gold Demand Trends in Q3, 2010. "Going by the trend, its good to estimate that the gold imports would cross the 750-tonne mark this year, a level earlier achieved in 2007. We have already crossed last year's total imports by almost 100 tonnes in the third quarter to reach 624 tonnes," according to WGC Managing Director (Middle East and India) Ajay Mitra. In 2009, the total imports stood at 559 tonnes. In the July-September quarter, India, the world's largest consumer of the yellow metal, has bought 214 tonnes of gold, as compared to 176 tonnes in the same quarter in 2009. Gold jewellery demand in India in the third quarter surged 36 per cent to 184.5 tonnes from 135.2 ton...

Following is the text of US President Barack Obama's address to Joint Session of Parliament Monday: Mr. Vice President, Madam Speaker, Mr. Prime Minister, members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and most of all, the people of India. I thank you for the great honour of addressing the representatives of more than one billion Indians and the world's largest democracy. I bring the greetings and friendship of the world's oldest democracy--the United States of America, including nearly three million proud and patriotic Indian-Americans. Over the past three days, my wife Michelle and I have experienced the dynamism of India and its people--from the majesty of Humayun's Tomb to the advanced technologies that are empowering farmers and women who are the backbone of Indian society; from the Diwali celebrations with schoolchildren to the innovators who are fuelling India's economic rise; from the university students who will chart India's future, to young leaders wh...

President plays perfect Indian hostess ahead of Obama banquet Hours before her banquet in honour of US President Barack Obama, President Pratibha Patil stepped into the Mughal Gardens this afternoon taking officials and staff by surprise. Playing the role of a perfect Indian hostess, she oversaw all the arrangements for the high-profile event and gave last minute instructions in connection with the state dinner for Obama, who is on his maiden visit to India. 75-year-old Patil took everyone by surprise when she started enquiring about the seating arrangements and facilities for serving and warming food, officials said today. She was keen to know about the arrangements for warming of food keeping in mind the cool evenings in the capital at this time of the year. The garden, which is contiguous to the main Rashtrapati Bhavan building, spans an area of 15 acres. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens and drew inspiration from the Mughal Gardens of Jammu and Kashmir, the garden around the Taj ...

In what could lead to new tests and treatments for autism, scientists claim to have discovered a key gene in the brain, which is linked to the condition. An international team, led by the University of California, has shown for the first time how the CNTNAP2 gene linked to autism rewires the brain's connections, a finding which could lead to new tests and treatments. In children with the gene, the brain's frontal lobe, which plays a key role in learning, is poorly linked to the rest of the brain, the 'Daily Mail' reported. Lead scientist Ashley Scott-Van Zeeland said: "In children who carry the risk gene, the front of the brain seems to mainly talk to itself. It doesn't communicate as much with other parts of the brain and lacks long-range connections to the back of the brain." There were also fewer connections between the frontal lobe and the left side of the brain, which is key to speech and understanding language. Team member Dr Daniel Geschwind, an ex...

The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday. Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi. He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea. Arrangements have been put in place for emergency evacuation, if needed. Obama is expected to fly by a helicopter -- Marine One -- from the city airport to the Indian Navy's helibase INS Shikra at Colaba in south Mumbai. From there, he will drive down in Lincoln Continental -- the Presidential limousine -- to the nearby the Taj Hotel. Two jets, armed with advance...