Needle marks on Jacko body, pills in stomach

The autopsy details of pop star Michael Jackson give a horrifying picture of the singer at the time of his death — he was a virtual skeleton as he was barely eating and there were only pills in his stomach. He was bald, bruised and also had broken ribs and needle wounds.

His hips, thighs and shoulders were riddled with needle wounds believed to be the result of injections of narcotic painkillers, given three times a day for years.

And multiple surgery scars were said to be the legacy of at least 13 cosmetic operations. Experts found the distressing evidence of Jackson’s physical decline while investigating his startling death here last week, reported thesun.co.uk.

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Sea Link is India’s longest

Themain span of the cable stayed portion of the Bandra-Worli sea link measuring 500 metres is the largest in India superseding Vidyasagar Setu in Kolkata and shares the 20th spot with Thailand’s Kanchanaphisek Bridge among the bridges with the longest span in the world.

The Sutong Bridge over the Yangtze River in China, opened June last year, has the largest span of any cable-stayed bridge at 1,088 meters. Hong Kong’s Stone cutters Bridge has the second longest span at 1,018 metres and with 890 metre the Tatara Bridge in Japan is the third longest.

Main span is the distance between the suspension towers and is the most common way to rank cable stayed bridges

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Americans stun Spain and football world

When the final whistle blew and the United States had collected one of their greatest football victories, defeating Spain, the No. 1 team in the world, the American players ran and jumped into one another’s arms and waved towels. Some removed their jerseys in celebration, and though the temperature was near freezing in the Southern Hemisphere winter, no one seemed to notice as they basked in the warmth of a startling victory.

Wednesday’s 2-0 win in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup, built on goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey and by a disciplined and impenetrable defence, halted Spain’s 35-game unbeaten streak and gave the European champions their first defeat since November 15, 2006.

Immediately, the victory took its place among other classic American football triumphs — victories in the World Cup over England in 1950, over Colombia in 1994, and over Portugal and Mexico in 2002 that were similarly stirring and unexpected.

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Poor monsoon will hit North-West India hard

There is bad news for North-West India: these states are likely to be the worst affected in this year’s monsoon, and are expected to get only 81 per cent of the average rainfall. The Indian Meteorological Department’s forecast released Wednesday says major states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and the western part of Uttar Pradesh will get “deficient rainfall”, which in turn might adversely affect agricultural activities.

The forecast was made public on Wednesday by the IMD, which also predicted a “below normal” monsoon in the country as a whole this year. In April, it had predicted a “near normal” monsoon.

IMD officials did not categorically accept the “El Nino” factor as a direct cause for lower rainfall levels, claiming that the correlation between the two was yet to be conclusively established.

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Washington Metro collision kills 9

The death toll from a collision between two subway trains in the US capital on Monday has risen to nine, broadcaster CNN reported on Tuesday.

At least 76 people were injured in the accident that has been described as the deadliest in the Washington Metro rail system’s history. A train that had apparently stopped between stations was struck from behind by a second train at about 5 pm. (2100 GMT), just inside Washington, near the Maryland state line.

“The scene is as horrific as you can imagine,” Washington mayor Adrian Fenty said. Few details about the dead have been released. The Washington Post said that the driver of one of the trains, Jeanice McMillan, 42, was among the dead.

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Hunger Bengal weapon

The West Bengal administration on Monday changed tack and launched an attempt to alienate local residents from the Maoist rebels by distributing rice and relief materials to people in the poverty-stricken belt of West Midnapore district as well as some adjoining areas.

The hunt for the elusive ultra-left rebels continued at the same time, with the state government planning to send 10 more companies of the Central Reserve Police Force to Lalgarh. An undeclared ceasefire continued for the second consecutive day and the security forces remained on high alert.

As a goodwill gesture, the administration distributed relief materials to those “distressed and displaced” following the three-day battle between the Maoists and the forces.

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Top Muslims in BJP clash with Maneka

The BJP national executive continued to degenerate into chaos on Sunday, with leaders indulging in a vicious blame game following the party’s Lok Sabha defeat.

The final day of the national executive session witnessed a heated exchange between Ms Maneka Gandhi, MP from Aonla, and the party’s prominent Muslim faces — Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shahnawaz Hussain.During the open session, without identifying Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi by name, Mr Hussain hit out at the “aggressive Hindutva stance” adopted by some leaders in the election campaign. He also expressed displeasure over the constant leak of internal party matters to the media.

Ms Gandhi intervened at this stage and attacked Mr Hussain, accusing the party’s Muslim MP from Bhagalpur of “leaking reports”.

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Lalgarh revolt rows, Centre asks LF to act

Lalgarh, which has been a CPI(M) bastion for almost 30 years, continued to burn on Wednesday as the much-awaited Central forces were unable to flush armed Maoist cadres out of the so-called "liberated zone" in West Midnapore district of West Bengal.

Mobs allegedly led by Maoists went on a killing spree in neighbouring Jhargram, slaughtering three CPI(M) cadres. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattcharjee is expected to discuss the situation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.

As violence escalated in the state, under Marxist rule for three decades, Union home minister P. Chidambaram said it was time the state administration took action. The Centre said while paramilitary forces might provide a supporting role, it was primarily the job of the state police to tackle the situation in Lalgarh.

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8 children among 12 shot dead in Assam

Suspected Dimasa rebels gunned down 12 Naga villagers, including eight children and two women, in a broad daylight swoop on a Zeme Naga village in southern Assam’s North Cachar Hills district on Tuesday.

The heavily armed militants also set ablaze 18 houses in Michidui village, about 25 km from district headquarters Halflong. More than 10 villagers were critically wounded and shifted to the Halflong civil hospital.

The incident took place Tuesday afternoon when the entire state government machinery was enjoying a "grand celebration" organised to mark the completion of three years of the second term of Assam’s Gogoi government.

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First planet from outside Milky Way is spotted

A team of astronomers has claimed to have seen hints of the first planet to be spotted outside the Milky Way galaxy, in the Andromeda galaxy.

According to a report by BBC News, the team, which has made the finding, is made up of researchers from the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Italy and collaborators in Switzerland, Spain, and Russia.

They exploited a type of gravitational lensing called microlensing to make the discovery.The effect of large, massive objects between an observer and a distant planet or star can cause distortion or multiple images as the intermediary object’s gravity bends the passing light.

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Jodhaa Akbar rules at ’09 IIFA awards

The three day IIFA 2009 weekend finally came to an end with a spectacular award ceremony held at the Venetian hotel in Macau. Amid the splendid location of the Far East, the glitterati and who’s who of the film industry presented the truly “big” picture of the breathtaking magic called Indian cinema. Since one of the prime initiative of IIFA is to stop global warming, the green carpet symbolising that cause was laid down for the stars

As the glam queens and kings of Bollywood sashayed down in their fancy ensembles, all the fans who gathered around the arena couldn’t help but scream and wave out to their favourite stars.

The award ceremony started at the Cotai Arena inside the hotel and went on late till early morning. The hosts for the evening ceremony were actors Boman Irani, Ritesh Deshmukh and Lara Dutta, who entertained the guests with cheeky lines and witty jokes.

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New York teen discovers supernova

A 14 year-old student from New York has apparently become the youngest person in the world to discover a supernova, the weakest-ever found in a nearby galaxy.

Astronomers have confirmed that the supernova discovered in November last year by Caroline Moore called SN 2008ha is a new type of stellar explosion, 1000 times more powerful than a nova but 1000 times less powerful than a supernova.

Astronomers say that it may be the weakest supernova ever seen. Even though this explosion was a weakling compared to most supernova, for a short time SN 2008ha was 25 million times brighter than the sun.

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Macau dazzles with stars of tinseltown

The three day extravaganza of the IIFA-2009 is about to start and the Venetian Macau Hotel, which is the venue of this year’s IIFA celebration, is dazzling with Bollywood stars.

Since this year is the decade year of IIFA Awards, the organisers are not leaving any stone unturned to make the event a memorable one.

Though some people are complaining about the absence of the three Khans (Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salman), there are others who are eagerly waiting to see Bachchan family rock the ceremony.

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Get ready to view a total solar eclipse on July 22

A rare celestial treat — a total solar eclipse — will be seen in India in the early hours of July 22. And those planning to give it a miss will have to wait for 78 long years to catch the rare glimpse again.

It will be the third total solar eclipse to be visible in India in the past 15 years, a senior scientist said here.The next total solar eclipse will occur in 2087.

“The eclipse will start shortly after sunrise from Surat in south Gujarat and will be visible in a long band that extends up to Japan,” said Bharat Adur, director, Akashganga Centre for Astronomy, and a former senior scientist with the Nehru Planetarium.

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Prime Minister writes to ministers

After issuing directions to the finance ministry on the Budget, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday wrote to the council of ministers, asking them to stick to the government’s proposed 100-day agenda.

Confirming about the missive, which the Prime Minister has sent to his Cabinet colleagues and also minister of states, sources in the PMO said, it is a kind of write advisory, which is meant more for the new and young ministers, who needed to be told about the “do’s and don’ts”.

Asking all his colleagues in the ministry to keep in mind the poll promises, while implementing schemes under their respective ministries, the Prime Minister is learnt to have cautioned them not to share differences of opinion with the media.

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Tigers trapped in Ojha’s web

The night was cold and reception warm, but the Blues dished out red hot stuff to get off the blocks in style at the World Twenty20 Championship here on Saturday.Debutant left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was the star of the night, turning the match around with his 4/21 to script an authoritative 25-run win over party-poopers Bangladesh at Trent Bridge.

Making first use of the wicket, the defending champions smashed their way to 180/5 via the knocks of Gautam Gambhir (50), Rohit Sharma (36), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (26) and an 18-ball blast that fetched 41 by Yuvraj Singh before restricting their opponents to 155/8, thanks to Ojha’s bag of tricks.

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Adopted man finds family on Facebook after 33 years

A man who was put for adoption when he was just three days old has found his biological family after 33 years, thanks to popular social networking website Facebook.

living with his adopted parents, unaware of the fact that his real family resided just two miles away. The 33year-old, who knew about his adoption, had begun his hunt for his birth mum at 18.

He contacted Bury Social Services and found that his sister Andrea Roczniak had left him two letters hoping they could make contact but had since shifted.

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Obama seeks a new beginning with Islam

Quoting from the Quran for emphasis, US President Barack Obama on Thursday called for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims” and said that together, they could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the timeless search for peace in West Asia.

“This cycle of suspicion and discord must end,” Mr Obama said in a widely anticipated speech in one of the world’s largest Muslim countries, an address designed to reframe relations after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the US-led war in Iraq.

The White House said Mr Obama’s speech contained no new policy proposals on West Asia. He said American ties with Israel are unbreakable, yet issued a firm, even handed call to the Jewish state and Palestinians alike to live up to their international obligations.

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1 more tests H1NI positive

Another case of H1N1 flu was reported in the country on Wednesday with a person testing positive for H1N1 while five others were quarantined with suspected symptoms.

With Wednesday’s case, the number of persons who have tested positive for the flu reached four. The latest is that of a person who visited the US and Canada and arrived in Hyderabad via London on May 30. His samples tested positive and he has been put on Oseltamivir, health ministry officials said.

One more posi tive case of H1N1 influenza virus has been found in the country, taking the number of positive cases in the country to four. Health authorities on Wednesday said a passenger, who had visited US and Canada, arrived at Hyderabad transiting London, on May 30 and reportedly complaint of flu symptoms a day later.

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Woman, 26, held for killing mom

A 26-year-old woman was arrested along with her boyfriend for the brutal murder by stabbing of her 55-year-old mother at their Paschim Vihar residence on May 28. The police had initially thought this murder had been carried out by a gang of robbers.

The police on Tuesday arrested the daughter, Sakshi, a nursery school teacher, and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Sunny Batra, an engineering student, for the murder of 55-year-old Kiran Kapoor. The woman was killed after she unexpectedly returned home and caught the couple in a compromising position.

The duo was put behind bars after allegedly confessing to the crime. Earlier, to give the police the impression that robbery was the motive behind the murder, Sakshi had asked Sunny to take cash and jewellery worth Rs 3 lakhs away from the house, the police said.

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Trains burnt by Bihar mobs

Several coaches of three trains were burnt down and the safety of rail passengers severely threatened in Bihar on Monday as angry mobs led violent attacks on railway property at two stations in protest against a decision by railway officials to withdraw some halts from the route of a number of trains. These halts were reportedly ordered during the tenure of Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav as railway minister.

Angry villagers set ablaze coaches of three trains at two railway stations near Patna, the state capital, and also uprooted tracks at a number of places. At least 30 people were injured, but none of them were train passengers. The railway police and security forces tried to prevent the vandalism, which disrupted rail traffic throughout the region for hours by halting at least 10 trains.

The immediate provocation which led to the mob fury was an announcement by the East Central Railway in some newspapers that several express trains, including the Rajgir-New Delhi Shramajeevi Express and the Kosi Express, would no longer halt at Khusropur station and some other places.

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Indian Air Force gets busy on mega-deal

Acting with a sense of urgency at the start of the UPA government’s second term, the defence ministry has invited global aviation giants who were bidders in the Rs 42,000 crore deal for acquisition of 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force to participate in the crucial field trials of the aircraft. These invitations were sent out on Friday.

Sources said each of these companies had been asked to send a delegation to India in June to work out modalities for the field trials that could begin by August and continue through September. Each delegation has been given a week’s time. The delegations will be taken to three venues — Bengaluru, Jaisalmer and Leh. The hot weather trials will be carried out over Jaisalmer in the Rajasthan desert, while the cold weather trials will be at Leh in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region.

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