US Dog Saves Owner by Lying on Him in Freezing Conditions

In a heroic act, a dog saved his 64-year-old owner's life by lying on top of him for nearly 24 hours to keep him warm in freezing conditions as the man lay paralysed in snow after falling and breaking his neck.The man, named only as Bob, was alone when he left his farmhouse in Petoskey, Michigan, on New Year's Eve to collect firewood. 5-year-old golden retriever Kelsey happened to be with Bob when during halftime of the Fiesta Bowl, Bob decided to walk outside his house in just his long johns, slippers and a shirt to get firewood for the fireplace.The short, 15-foot walk turned traumatic when Bob slipped and fell and then could not move.

"I was screaming for help, but my nearest neighbor is about a quarter-mile away and it was 10:30 PM, but my Kelsey came," Bob was quoted as saying by Petoskey News. "By morning my voice was gone and I couldn't yell for help, but Kelsey didn't stop barking." For the next 20 hours, Bob remained paralysed in the snow in temperatures that dipped very low. Bob claims Kelsey kept him warm by laying on top of him, licking his face and hands to help keep him awake. 

"She kept barking for help, but never left my side. She kept me warm and alert. I knew I had to persevere through this and that was my choice to stay alive," he was quoted as saying. After being outside for 19 hours, Bob lost consciousness, but Kelsey kept barking until eventually his neighbor, Rick, discovered him.

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90 Indian-Origin Punjabis to Fly to India to Campaign for Aap

Some 90 Punjabis of Indian-origin from Canada will fly to Punjab to campaign for Aam Admi Party (AAP) in 16 of the state's largest constituencies for the assembly elections on February 4. They will arrive in Punjab on January 19. "I want to be a part of real change," Surinder Mavi, a 31-year-old Brampton resident who helped in organising the plane load of AAP "election volunteers" was quoted as saying by Toronto Star. Mavi said the Toronto area volunteers were part of a campaign that will see thousands of Indian expatriates arrive in Dehli in Punjab to help AAP in the elections, it reported. 

Mavi's political awakening began with his arrival in Canada eight years ago, when he realised bribes were unnecessary and basic rules, like stopping at red lights, were respected. For the election, Mavi will ride an AAP campaign bus that will rally support in 16 of Punjab's largest constituencies.He had joined the Canadian branch of AAP, which had burst onto the Indian political scene two years ago with a platform of ending the culture of "bribe-taking," the daily reported.The key platform issues in campaign will be AAP's proposals to fight widespread drug abuse among the youth and programmes to give farmers more money for their crops.

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Scottish Church Criticised for Reading 'Quaran' Passage

A Scottish cathedral has been criticised for allowing the reading of a passage from the 'Quran' which was aimed at promoting understanding between the two faiths.

St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow during a Eucharist service last week marked the feast of the Epiphany  by including a guest reader who read from 'Surah 19' in the  'Quran'.  "The decisions which have led to the situation in St Mary's Cathedral are a matter for the provost and the cathedral community but the Scottish Episcopal Church is deeply distressed at the widespread offence which has been caused," said Church Primus, the Most Rev David Chillingworth, in an online post on Sunday.

"We also deeply regret the widespread abuse which has been received by the cathedral community. In response to what has happened at the cathedral, the Scottish Episcopal Church will bring together all those who are involved in the development of interfaith relations," he said.

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Rs. 9000 Minimum Pension For Central Govt. Employees: MOS PMO

The minimum pension has been increased to Rs 9,000 per person besides a two-fold hike in ex-gratia amount for central government employees, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday. Addressing the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) here, he said almost 88 per cent of pension accounts have been seeded to Aadhaar. 

There are about 50-55 lakh pensioners in the country, said Singh, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office. He further said that minimum pension has been increased to Rs 9,000 per person and ex-gratia amount has been increased from Rs 10-15 lakh to Rs 25-35 lakh, as per a release issued by Personnel Ministry. The SCOVA meeting is organised by the Department of Pensions and Pensioners' Welfare (DoP&PW). 

Singh said there is a need to put in place an institutionalised mechanism to make good use of the knowledge, experience and efforts of the retired employees which can help in the value addition to the current scenario. He said the retired employees are a healthy and productive workforce for India and we need to streamline and channelise their energies in a productive direction. "We should learn from the pensioners' experience," said Singh.

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I Can't Compare Myself to Raj Kapoor: Aamir Khan

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan says he was touched when noted actor Rishi Kapoor called him Raj Kapoor of today's time. "The one response that really touched me was of Rishi Kapoorji's tweet. He gave me the biggest compliment that I could imagine by calling me the Raj Kapoor of today. 

That was the biggest compliment that I got," Aamir, 51, said. "I was over the moon, I was thrilled and really happy. I thanked him. I can't compare myself to Raj Kapoor there is no way about it. Considering this thought came to Rishi ji's mind who is Raj Kapoor's son means a lot to me." Aamir's superstar friend Salman too had tweeted praising him and his performance in "Dangal". 

"Salman's tweet - 'I love you personally but hate you professionally' people might get confused about it. The fact that he is telling it publicly...  there is lot of love in it and that is a big compliment as it is coming from my colleague," he said. 

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Black Money has Destroyed Nation, Fight Against IT: PM to Youth

Contending that black money had "destroyed" the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reached out to the youth, asking them to fight against it along with social problems like caste discrimination, untouchability and harassment of women.

Hailing the youth for their contribution to various aspects of the society, he pitched for new thinking while underlining the need for channelising the tremendous energy of the young people and preventing them from getting misled. The Prime Minister asked the youth to focus on six social challenges -- ending of illiteracy, insensitivity, perverted thinking, failure to rise above caste considerations, ill-treatment of women and callous attitude towards the environment. 

"Black money has destroyed the country... Recently we took a major decision to fight black money. The youth have put in their energy into this," he said while referring to demonetisation under which Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes were withdrawn. Modi, while addressing the 21st National Youth Festival by video conferencing, underlined that over 80 crore people aged under 35 years can contribute immensely to the social changes. 

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British EX-SPY with Trump Memo Goes Into Hiding

A former British spy is "in fear of his life" and has gone into hiding after being publicly named  as the author of a memo that claims Russia has compromising material on US President-elect Donald Trump. Christopher Steele, who runs a London-based intelligence firm, left his home in Berkshire, south-east England, earlier this week and had asked his neighbour to look after his cats, BBC reports. 

Steele, 52, has been widely named as the author of the memo, published in some US media containing extensive allegations about Trump's personal life and his campaign's relationship with the Russian state. Trump has dismissed the claims as "fake news" and "phoney stuff". The allegations include claims that Moscow has a video recording of Trump with prostitutes and damaging information about his business activities. 

According to BBC, Steele was reportedly "in fear of his life", having spoken out about potential Russian involvement in Trump's election. Members of the intelligence community described the spook as "extremely, highly regarded" and was seen as "competent". Steele, who was initially named in the US, is a former member of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and a director of Orbis Business Intelligence, which describes itself as a leading corporate intelligence consultancy.

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