Live! Closest 'habitable' planet found 14 light years away

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Sun, 20 December 2015

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23:28 'ISIS's best recruiter': Clinton on Trump

Hillary Clinton believes, finally, that the force is with her.

The former secretary of state's tactics and performance in Saturday's Democratic debate suggested that she thinks that though her campaign struggled out of the gate following a series of personal missteps, the nomination may be finally within her grasp as voting in first-in-the-nation states looms.

Sometimes, the fights politicians chose to skip reveal as much about them as the ones they decide to wage. And Clinton sent a clear signal in New Hampshire about where her real targets lie in the 2016 presidential race.

She gave her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a pass on a voting data controversy that sparked bitter disputes between their campaigns over the previous 24 hours. Instead, she opted to lacerate Donald Trump and sought to tar the Republican Party brand with his antics.

Clinton has no desire to fuel an internal Democratic brushfire that could offer supporters of Sanders, already skeptical of her positions on issues from war to Wall Street, new reasons to fulminate against her campaign.

Read more HERE.

Astronomers have discovered the closest potentially habitable planet found outside our solar system, orbiting a star just 14 light years away.

The planet, more than four times the mass of Earth, is one of three that the team detected around a red dwarf star called Wolf 1061.

"It is a particularly exciting find because all three planets are of low enough mass to be potentially rocky and have a solid surface, and the middle planet, Wolf 1061c, sits within the 'Goldilocks' zone where it might be possible for liquid water -- and maybe even life -- to exist," said lead study author Duncan Wright, from University of New South Wales in Australia.

"It is fascinating to look out at the vastness of space and think a star so very close to us -- a near neighbour -- could host a habitable planet," Wright said.

India has approached the US to help identify Night Vision Devices believed to be meant for American and NATO forces recovered from inflitrating terrorists after recent encounters in Jammu and Kashmir.

Four NVDs as well as a couple of sophisticated binoculars were recovered at four places after the Army had eliminated infiltrating terrorists, official sources said.

Information regarding recoveries was shared by the central security agencies with their US counterparts, who have promised help in the probe. The NVDs, recovered from near the Line of Control in North Kashmir after encounters, were dismantled to ascertain the serial numbers on the lens which were forwarded to the US authorities.

A similar NVD was found during the July 27 Gurdaspur terror attack. The NVD with US government marking was used by the terrorists as telescope fitted on an assault rifle to help them identify their targets in dead of the night.

Seven people including a Superintendent of Police were killed by the three terrorists before they were neutralised by Punjab Police. Upon an inquiry by India, the US had confirmed the NVD belonged to the US army which it had lost in Afghanistan in 2010.

Barring its closest NATO allies, the US does not sell these NVDs to any other country. It is believed that military equipment lost by its soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq are often sold in the open market, including through e-commerce websites.

The suspicious device discovered in the bathroom of an Air France flight was a hoax, the CEO of Air France said today.

The Boeing 777 was heading to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris from Mauritius when its pilots requested an emergency landing early Sunday at Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa.

The device was made of cardboard, paper and a household timer, said Frederic Gagey, the head of Air France. "This object did not contain explosives," said Gagey at a news conference in Paris.

Gagey congratulated the crew for their cool-headed reaction to divert the plane. A safety check was carried out in the bathroom before the flight, he said. He denied any security failure in the flight, saying that passengers are

checked and sometimes double-checked on flights.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to file civil and criminal defamation cases against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other senior AAP leaders.

Besides Kejriwal, cases will be filed against Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha, Deepak Bajpayee, AAP leaders, Jaitley told PTI.

Jaitley said cases are being filed in his personal capacity against Kejriwal and others who have issued "false and defamatory" statements against him and his family members.

Jaitley said he had instructed his legal team to institute civil defamation cases against Kejriwal and others in the Delhi High Court and criminal defamation cases in the Patiala House courts.

This move comes hot on the heels of the much reported CBI raid at the Delhi secretariat at which time Kejriwal had charged the FM of having a hand in the high-end corruption in the Delhi District Cricket Association, which he headed for several years.

Kejriwal had charged the FM of attempting to cover up his tracks via the raid.

21:01 Mendoza stars as Chennaiyin FC win ISL 2

Stiven Mendoza was the star of the night as Chennaiyin FC beat FC Goa 3-1 in a dramatic final to be crowned champions in the 2nd edition of the Indian Super League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao on Sunday.

British actor Orlando Bloom was today deported to the UK soon after his arrival here as his E-visa had been rejected following which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj came to his help to get a visa.

The 38-year-old actor, who was invited by the Uttar Pradesh Government for a state event, was told after he landed here that his e-visa has been rejected and subsequently, he was deported, according to sources.

Following this, former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh spoke to Swaraj seeking her intervention in the matter, they said.

A Kenyan police official says six passengers are being questioned over a suspected bomb found on an Air France plane that forced the jet that was flying to Paris from Mauritius to make an emergency landing in Kenya.

The police official, who is part of the investigation and insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to give information to the media, said during the flight a passenger noticed something in a lavatory which looked like "a stop watch mounted on a box."

The passenger reported to the cabin crew who informed the pilots leading to an emergency landing at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa. He said one of those being interrogated is the man who reported the package.

At least 27 people including six women and three children were missing today when hundreds of tonnes of mud from a crumbling mountain crushed 22 buildings in an industrial park in Shenzhen, one of China's most developed cities.

Regarded as one of China's worst urban disasters, 14 people were pulled out of the mountain of mud that engulfed vast area of the new industrial park in south China that borders Hong Kong.

More than 1,500 people including firemen, police and health workers are involved in the rescue operations, searching the debris for any trapped victims.

The missing included a family of grand father and three children, the youngest nine-years-old and the oldest three years, state-run CCTV reported.

Videos on China's social media showed vast amounts of red mud pouring into the city with huge noise around 11 am engulfing building after building.

US immigration officials did a "sloppy" job in granting financee visa to Pakistani national Tashfeen Malik, one of the two shooters in the California gun rampage that killed 14 people, a top American lawmaker said today.

House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said he reviewed Malik's application and found there was insufficient evidence to prove the 29-year-old and US citizen Syed Rizwan Farook, had met in person -- a requirement for a foreign national seeking a K-1 financee visa before being allowed entry into the US.

Goodlatte said: "It is clear that immigration officials did not thoroughly vet her application. In order to obtain a fiancee visa, it is required to demonstrate proof that the US citizen and foreign national have met in person.

However, Malik's immigration file does not show sufficient evidence for this requirement. What is worse, the immigration official reviewing Malik's application requested more evidence to ensure the two met in person but it was never provided and her visa was approved anyway, he said.

19:09 Militants lob grenade at police post in J&K

Suspected militants lob grenade at a police post in Kakapora, in Jammu & Kashmir's Pulwama district.

More details awaited.

Protesters along with Nirbhaya's parents, who were protesting against the release of the juvenile convict in the December 16 gang rape case, were first detained and then forced away from the Rajpath area.

Police forced protesters away from the Rajpath at which point they moved towards India Gate.

A suspicious device found in the toilet on Air France flight 463 to Paris is a bomb, Kenyan authorities have confirmed.

Two suspects from the flight are being questioned by Kenyan security forces after the Paris-bound flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Mombasa at 12.37am when a suspicious looking package was discovered in the toilet.

All 459 passengers and 13 crew were escorted safely off the aircraft, while the bomb has been taken by the Kenyan navy to be detonated safely away from the airport.

Read more HERE.

People gathered in large numbers at the Jantar Mantar on Sunday in the national capital to protest against the release of the juvenile convict in the December 16 gangrape case.

A large number of students have gathered to express their dissent. The protesting people were seen raising slogans against the release of the juvenile.

People held various placards with slogans like, 'Age is not the criteria if crime is rape' and 'We want justice, hang the rapist' among others.

The parents of the victim are yet to reach Jantar Mantar.

The juvenile convict in the December 2012 Delhi bus gang rape was moved to an undisclosed location days before his scheduled release tomorrow, sources said.

Late tonight, the Delhi Commission for Women launched a last-ditch effort to block his release by moving a special leave petition in the Supreme Court.

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal tweeted that she was trying to stop the release, scheduled after 5pm tomorrow. We are trying our best to stop his release, Maliwal said on her way to the court around midnight.

A vacation bench headed by Justice A K Goel, however, decided to hear the matter only on Monday. It did not stay the release.

Sources said the convict, who is now 20, had already been handed over to an NGO and would remain in its custody for six months under police protection.

Read more HERE.

Ignoring warnings from his party, the BJP, former cricketer Kirti Azad has started a media conference, which, he said, is an expose "against corruption" in DDCA - the Delhi cricket body.

"DDCA gave money to a lot of companies and nature of work was never told," he added.

Contract were given out to fraud companies, payments were made, without any verification:

"I just want to expose corruption, the accounts of it will be explained later. I repeat, this is not a personal or against one person. It is against corruption," the lawmaker from Bihar said.

"Let me start out by saying I'm a big fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his campaign against corruption... We are going to make an audio video presentation that WikiLeaks4India has produced," Kirti Azad said at the media conference in Delhi.

Read more HERE.

15:34 Sanders apologises to Clinton for data breach

Democratic presidential aspirant Bernie Sanders today apologised to his rival Hillary Clinton for inadvertently breaching into her election database to access information about her voters.

"Yes, I apologise," Sanders said replying to a question after he acknowledged that his presidential election campaign "by mistake" intruded into the election data base of Clinton. He said the individual responsible for this has been fired.

Both Sanders,74, and Clinton, 68, are seeking be the Democratic Party's presidential nominee for the 2016 elections.

The public apology by Sanders to Clinton is expected to bring an end to the bitter fight that had erupted between the two campaigns yesterday after the Democratic Party suspended his campaign access to its data following the security breach.

A day earlier, Sanders had sued his own Democratic party for blocking his campaign from accessing its digital database considered essential to run his electioneering.

People gathered in large numbers at the Jantar Mantar on Sunday in the national capital to protest against the release of the juvenile convict in the December 16 gangrape case.

A large number of students have gathered to express their dissent. The protesting people were seen raising slogans against the release of the juvenile.

People held various placards with slogans like, 'Age is not the criteria if crime is rape' and 'We want justice, hang the rapist' among others.

The parents of the victim are yet to reach Jantar Mantar.

The parents of the victim had earlier decided to hold the protest at the India Gate, but because of the imposition of Section 144 in the area, they were not allowed.

With the juvenile convict of the December 16 gang rape case set to be free today, woman activist Kavita Shrivastava on Sunday came out in support of him, saying he should be given a second chance.

"What happened on 16 December was very unfortunate, but it is important to note that such juveniles are used by adults. I think, the boy should be given another chance to live," Shrivastava told ANI.

"Law should be implemented. According to the law, a boy below the age of 18 years is not sent to jail. He was kept in observation home for three years. Even the High Court said that the law should be implemented," she added.

Meanwhile, a protest is going on at the Jantar Mantar in view of the juvenile release.

The parents of the victim had earlier decided to hold the protest at the India Gate, but because of the imposition of Section 144 in the area, they were not allowed.

Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde has objected to the Marathi biopic "Sangharshyatra", based on the life of her father late Gopinath Munde, claiming that the film's producer did not take permission from their family

before making it.

However, producer Sanjay Singh Suryawanshi has decided to go ahead with the film's release next month.

He said the film that was initially supposed to be released on December 12, 2015, the birth anniversary of the late BJP leader, will now be released on January 12, despite the objections raised by the Munde family.

Sandeep Ghuge, along with three other members of the BJP's 'Chitrapat Union' had in December 2014 announced their plans to produce a Marathi film based on Munde's political and family life.

Facing allegations of corruption, under-fire former Delhi and District Cricket Association President Arun Jaitley today got the backing of the two biggest stars to emerge from the state-- Virender Sehwag and

Gautam Gambhir.

Finance Minister Jaitley, who headed DDCA for 13 years till 2013, has been accused of corruption by the Delhi Government during his tenure. The state government has demanded that Jaitley must resign or be "removed" from the union cabinet to enable an independent probe.

However, Gambhir and Sehwag came out strongly in support of Jaitley.

"Grossly inappropriate 2 blame @arunjaitley ji 4 corruption in DDCA. He was d one who got Delhi a proper stadium widout taxpayer's money. Appalling to note some ex-players blame @arunjaitley ji for all that's wrong in DDCA. Whereas dey enjoyed plum posts in DDCA coz of him," tweeted Gambhir.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal hoped that the juvenile offender in the December 16 gangrape case will not walk free today as scheduled as her plea against his release will be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow.

In a dramatic post-midnight move, the Delhi Commission for Women had approached the Supreme Court to stay release of the juvenile convict, who is now 20 years old and was known to be the most brutal of the attackers.

"How many more Nirbhayas will we create before we change the system. Nirbhayas rapist should not be released under any circumstances today," Maliwal tweeted.

"SC accepted r petition. Matter listed on Monday as Item No 3. Case subjudice now. Nirbhaya rapist should not be released until case heard," she said in another tweet.

In a post-midnight order, the Supreme Court declined to stay the release of the juvenile offender in the horrific December 16 gangrape case that will

enable him to walk free.

In their order pronounced at 2 am, a vacation bench comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit refused the dramatic post-midnight move of the Delhi Commission for Women to stay his release by giving an urgent hearing and posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal and the lawyers of the women's panel hoped that since the matter has become sub judice, the government and Delhi Police will not release the juvenile offender.

"The matter has been posted for hearing on Monday as item number 3. The matter has now become sub judice. I hope that government and the Delhi Police will wait for one day and not release him," Maliwal told reporters outside the residence of Justice Goel.

Seven coaches of Katihar-Amritsar Amrapali Express derailed in Bihar's Khagaria district early today.

There was no report of any casualty in the derailment that occurred at a place under Sonepur division of ECR.

Seven coaches of 15707 UP Katihar-Amritsar Express including one AC-2, one AC-3 and five sleeper coaches jumped the track in between Patraha and Gouchari at around 1:14 AM, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway, Arvind Kumar Rajak, told PTI in Patna.

Picture for representation only.

In a post midnight development, Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal moved the Supreme Court with a petition against the scheduled release of the Nirbhaya gang-rape juvenile convict, after reports of the convict being moved to an undisclosed location emerged late Saturday evening.

Lawyers associated with the case said Chief Justice of India T S Thakur has allocated the matter for listing before a vacation bench comprising justices A K Goel and U U Lalit, who will take a call on whether the matter can be heard urgently or not, Press Trust of India reported.

"This struggle is for all Nirbhayas across the country. The entire nation is looking towards Hon'ble Supreme Court with a lot of hope," tweeted Maliwal.

Earlier in the day, ther DCW chief met with the apex court's Vacation Officer -- Additional Registrar Anita Kashyap -- regarding the petition.

The convict is scheduled to be released on Sunday.

The development comes on a day the victim's parents were detained and later released after they held a protest against allowing the juvenile convict to walk free.

The convict, who is now 20 years old, has been taken to an undisclosed location from a correction home in North Delhi amid concerns that there was threat to his life.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned more than $120 million on Friday, easily breaking previous opening day box office records.

The new movies weekend haul tops the former record holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, which earned $91.1 million on its first day, Entertainment Weekly reports.

The Force Awakens is expected to earn as much $250 million during its opening weekend.

The latest installment of the franchise was always expected to perform well at the box office, but has benefited from generally positive reviews in recent weeks.

A boat carrying more than 100 passengers is believed to have had an accident Saturday off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi after encountering rough seas and dispatching a distress signal, according to an official.

Transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata said there were 118 people on board the passenger ferry, including 19 children and 10 crew, when it left Kolaka in southeast Sulawesi on Saturday morning.

Later in the afternoon, the vessel sent out a distress signal, claiming the ship "had an accident as a result of large waves 4 to 5 metres high", Barata said in a statement.

There was no mention of casualties, but Indonesia's search and rescue agency and navy have been notified.

00:13 Hitler only had one testicle?

A medical document shows that Adolf Hitler only had one testicle, German media said on Saturday, suggesting there is some truth after all to a popular British song that says the dictator had "only got one ball".

There has long been speculation that Hitler was missing one testicle, with rumours circulating that he lost the other one during the Battle of the Somme in the First World War.

But a medical record from the time when Hitler was put in prison after the failed Munich beer hall putsch in 1923 shows he suffered from "right-side cryptorchidism" -- a condition where a testicle fails to descend into the scrotum - media reports said.

The doctor's notes were thought to have been missing for years but reappeared at an auction in 2010, at which point they were seized by authorities.

Read more HERE

Annual electronic dance music festivals set to take place in Goa at the end of December have been put on high alert, thanks to terror threats by extremist group ISIS.

Accortding to state Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar, permissions for the two events will hang in the balance until the organisers complied with requests for providing additional security cover.

"We want the best security in view of the ISIS threat. The single window permission committee headed by the chief secretary which grants permission for such events has decided to ask the organisers of the events to increase security," media reports quoted Parulekar as saying.

"The police will be there, but the organisers will also have to increase the security in view of the threat. The permissions will be granted once they comply with these conditions," he further added.

Goa, one of the top beach and nightlife tourism destinations, hosts two of the biggest party events in the country -- Sunburn and Supersonic EDM festivals -- which are held in the last week of December.

Kurt Masur, the legendary German music conductor credited with transforming the New York Philharmonic into an orchestra of international renown, died Saturday in Greenwich, Connecticut, at age 88, the Philharmonic said.

Masur served as music director of the Philharmonic from 1991 to 2002 and was later named music director emeritus, becoming the first to receive that title and only the second after Leonard Bernstein to be given an honorary position.

Masur was also a well-known humanist who played a central role in peaceful demonstrations against East Germany's communist government in 1989.

"What we remember most vividly is Masur's profound belief in music as an expression of humanism," New York Philharmonic President Matthew VanBesien said in a statement. Maestro Masur's 11-year tenure, one of the longest in the Philharmonic's history, both set a standard and left a legacy that lives on today."

00:04 Top headlines at this hour:

Nirbhaya's juvenile rapist to walk free on Sunday

Nirbhaya case: Juvenile rapist's village doesn't want him back

Sonia, Rahul Gandhi granted bail in National Herald case

Sonia, Rahul no freedom fighters, but accused in a case: BJP to Congress

Not scared of anyone, will continue our fight: Gandhis after receiving bail

Yuvraj, Nehra surprise call-ups in T20 squad for Australian tour

BCCI sends 'clear cut message': Dhoni will be our leader at T20 WC

UP Lokyukta's appointment put on hold

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