Los Angeles: Actress Amanda Peterson, best known for her 1987 film ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, is dead. She was 43.

he actress died at her home in Greeley, Colorado, reports tmz.com.

Peterson’s father said that the family hadn’t heard from 43-year-old since July 3 and became concerned. Her body was finally discovered at her home on July 5.

As for cause of death, Peterson’s father said that they don’t know the official cause of death, but shared: “She had some illness and a sleep apnea problem that may have contributed.”

Peterson had been dealing with several medical issues over the past two years including pneumonia, sinusitis and sleep apnea. Peterson’s father also said that she had been living in a home with mold issues, but moved out about a year ago.

Peterson started her Hollywood career in early 1980s and landed small roles in musical film ‘Annie’ and several TV shows including ‘Silver Spoons’ and ‘Boone’. She got famous after playing Cindy Mancini opposite Patrick Dempsey in 1987’s romantic comedy movie ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’.

In 1994, Peterson reportedly left her movie career and moved to Colorado. She was said back to school several years ago but dropped out around 2010. Before her death, it’s said that Amanda had been trying to make it as a writer.

IANS

The Army has handed over an 11-year-old boy from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) who had inadvertently crossed into this side of the Line of Control (LoC), to the Pakistani Army.
Sameer Kayani, a resident of Laswa area of Athmuqam in PoK was intercepted by troops deployed in the forward areas after he inadvertently crossed into this side on Thursday, army officials said here Sunday night. The Army sent an urgent hot line message to the Pakistan side, after the boy was intercepted, they said.
The officials said that the message was initiated to inform the Pakistan Army of the safety and well being of Kayani along with a request for a flag meeting so that the boy could be repatriated and united with his family at the earliest.

“The flag meeting was held at the Teetwal Crossing Point and the boy was handed over to representatives of Pakistan Army by the unit based at Tanghdar frontier area,” the officials said.
The Army also gave Kayani a pair of new clothes and sweets for his family across the borders.

A US-based media watchdog has demanded a credible and thorough investigation into the mysterious death of TV journalist Akshay Singh while covering the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh.
“The Indian government should do its utmost to investigate the death of journalist Akshay Singh in a credible and thorough manner,” demanded Committee to Protect Journalist Asia Research Associate Sumit Galhotra.
“Given the recent spike in the number of journalist deaths in the country, authorities should dedicate their efforts to solving these cases and delivering justice where due,” he said in a statement.

Singh, 38, an investigative journalist with India Today Group’s Aaj Tak channel, died a mysterious death on Saturday soon after he had interviewed the parents of a girl who was found dead after her name figured in the massive admission and recruitment scandal.

Post-mortem report inconclusive
The post-mortem report of deceased Aaj Tak special correspondent Akshay Singh has been handed over to the Dahod Police. The report will be handed to the Madhya Pradesh government for further investigation.
As per the initial reports, no internal and external injuries have been found on Akshay Singh’s body. Dr Ashok Devidas Bachani and Dr Harish Waghela performed Akshay’s post-mortem at the General Hospital Dahod. The post-mortem report submitted to the police station in Dahod says that there are no internal or external injuries anywhere on the body.
The doctors say that the final cause of death will be known only after the viscera report. Akshay’s viscera samples have been handed over to the police who, in turn, have handed them over to the authorized forensic lab. The doctors say that prima facie the death appears to be from natural causes but they want to withhold a final answer till the time the forensics report comes out.

A key witness in Pakistan’s former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s murder case has retracted from his earlier statement during cross examination before the Anti-Terrorism Court, media reported on Tuesday.
Prosecution witness, retired SSP Imtiaz, a key security official of Bhutto, on Monday withdrew his earlier statement before Judge Rai Mohammad Ayub Marth who is hearing the case.
Imtiaz told the ATC that a foolproof security cover was provided to Bhutto outside Liaqat Bagh where she was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack on December 27, 2007, Dawn reported.

He added all police officers were present on the scene to provide security to Bhutto.
Earlier, Imtiaz had claimed that Bhutto was killed due to inadequate security arrangements at Liaqat Bagh where the former chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had delivered her last speech.
He had then said: “Had Benazir not appeared from sunroof of the vehicle, she might not have been killed.”

Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen has lashed out at Modi government accusing it of very large interference to control academic institutions. Sen, in a 4000 word essay to be published in August issue of New York Review of books has particularly given candid opinion about his ‘ouster’ from Nalanda University and how according to him, the government is trying to control various institutes of repute.

Amartya Sen in an interview to an English daily has spoken out on multiple issues. He has rued at the poor health of the economy and also expressed concern at cuts in health and education budget.

Regarding his removal from Nalanda, Sen said that some members of the board wanted him to carry on, but he stepped aside fearing government may cut funds and he didn’t want to be an ineffective leader. But according to Sen, it is not an isolated incident and government has tried to impose its will in several educational institutes. In the interview, Sen cited instances of educational institutes like TIFR, NBT, ICHR- where the government allegedly put academicians perceived closer to them, replacing more worthy individuals.

Sen also mentioned about the fiasco in both IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay. In IIT Delhi, Director Raghunath Shevgaonkar resigned whereas in IIT Bombay board chairman Anil Kakodkar refused to help government in the future. Sen was also critical of the draft IIM bill, which he says gives direct control to the government instead of effective power.

Sen also was pointed in his criticism saying merely HRD Ministry shouldn’t be blamed for the entire ‘interference’ in academic institutions and the whole government is to be blamed.

The noted economist was also scathing in his opinion about the state of economy under Narendra Modi. Taking a critical view of cut of budget in healthcare, he said that financing public services is a key component to growth, a trick India is missing. Comparing India to China, Sen said that only trying to emulate high growth rate of China is problematic. He said that market economy needs successful public services.

Sen slammed the Land Acquisition bill proposed by the government branding it ‘completely wrong’. This fresh salvo from Sen is likely to provide fresh ammunition to opposition parties and critic of Modi government who are already targeting the ruling dispensation on multiple fronts.

Mumbai, Jul 7 (PTI) The rupee trimmed its initial sharp gains against the American currency but was still up by 2 paise at 63.38 in late morning deals on bouts of dollar selling from exporters.

Earlier, the rupee resumed higher at 63.30 per dollar as against the last closing level of 63.40 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.

The local currency moved in a range of 63.30 and 63.38 per dollar.

The US dollar index was up by 0.18 per cent at 96.42.

Oils rebounded in Asia early today on bargain-hunting after prices plunged a day yesterday as Greek defiance against austerity measures imposed by its creditors sparked turbulence in global markets.

In the New York market, the euro fell against its main rivals yesterday, but trimmed initial losses scored after Greek voters rejected conditions for a new bailout.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading up by 54 points or 0.19 per cent to 8,262.62 at 1045 hrs.

Beijing, Jul 6 (PTI) China, the world’s largest carbon emitter, has put up advertisements at public places depicting the environmental issues in Indian cities like Mumbai to warn its people about the impact of climate change and encourage them to plan future around low carbon development.

Advertisements depicting pictures of Mumbai and Allahabad among others have been put up along the streets and places such as Wangfujing city center area in downtown prominently to draw people’s attention towards consequences of pollution.

China, which pledges to cut carbon emissions and plan to minimise the adverse impact on its economy, highlighted issues of plastic garbage, sandstorms in Indian cities in its ads and also suggested ways to address the environmental challenges.

One of the ads says the grim situation teenagers faced in Mumbai on not finding appropriate place to play is due to heap of plastic garbage.

“The beaches in Mumbai were covered in plastic garbage, teenagers, eager to release energy of youth, had no choice but to play cricket in the garbage heap,” said one of the ads, which prominently highlights a picture showing a boy playing cricket on heap of garbage at a beach.

Another advertisement speaks about Allahabad.

“On July 12, 2015, the city of Allahabad in India was hit by sandstorms, the resulting low visibility made it impossible for pedestrian to see each others in the sand,” describes the billboard under the concept of low carbon development.

The picture put up with the message shows four persons facing sandstorm while walking in front of a written slogan of ‘Ganga Bachao’ campaign.

The board of advertisements, written in English as well as Chinese language, have been erected along the footpath and catches attention of visitors in Wangfujing road area, which has shopping malls and is located within walking distance of noted destinations like Forbidden city and Tiananmen Square.

The message about Indian cities are among over a dozen such advertisements which describe environmental issues and problem in other countries also, which included drought in Australia, and shows approach for low carbon activities that could in turn ensure energy security and reduce pollution.

Low-carbon development is China’s one of the key strategies to achieve its target of reducing carbon intensity and to make its contribution in solving problems of global warming and sea level rising.

Looking at the projection of population for years to come, China plans its major cities and fast growing urban areas around low carbon development and finds opportunity to create global model for the sustainable and low carbon cities.

For this, the government has developed a low-carbon strategy that includes more efficient energy and waste water use, transport systems that reduce congestion, and sustainable urban design.

A recent study had pointed out that India and China suffer over USD 1.89 trillion annually in terms of the value of lives lost and ill health caused from air pollution.

Germany and France scrambled to avoid a major split over Greece on Monday evening as the eurozone delivered a damning verdict on Alexis Tsipras’s landslide referendum victory on Sunday and Angela Merkel demanded that the Greek prime minister put down new proposals to break the deadlock.

As concerns mount that Greek banks will run out of cash, and about the damage being inflicted on the country’s economy, hopes for a breakthrough faded. EU leaders voiced despair and descended into recrimination over how to respond to Sunday’s overwhelming rejection of eurozone austerity terms as the price for keeping Greece in the currency.

Tsipras, meanwhile, moved to insure himself against purported eurozone plots to topple him and force regime change by engineering a national consensus of the country’s five mainstream parties behind his negotiating strategy, focused on securing debt relief. Tsipras also sacrificed his controversial finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, in what was seen as a conciliatory signal towards Greece’s creditors.

In Paris, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President François Hollande tried to plot a common strategy after Greeks returned a resounding no to five years of eurozone-scripted austerity. The two leaders were trying to find a joint approach to the growing crisis ahead of an emergency eurozone summit on Tuesday to deal with the fallout.

But Merkel said there was no current basis for negotiating with the Greek side and called on Tsipras to make the next move.

As eurozone leaders prepared for today’s emergency summit in Brussels, the heads of government were at odds. France, Italy and Spain are impatient for a deal while Germany, the European commission and northern Europe seem content to let Greece stew and allow the euphoria following Sunday’s vote to give way to the sobering realities of bank closures, cash shortages and isolation.

Greek banks are to remain closed until Thursday at the earliest, it was announced, with ATM withdrawals rationed to €60 daily.

“The prospects of a happy resolution of this crisis are rapidly diminishing,” said the British chancellor, George Osborne, after speaking to some of the key policymakers. “If there is no signal from these meetings that Greece and the eurozone are ready to get around the table again, we can expect the financial situation in Greece to deteriorate rapidly.”

The commission had nothing positive at all to say about Sunday’s Greek referendum, while Germany’s increasingly hardline social democratic leader, Sigmar Gabriel, warned that Greece was on the brink of insolvency.

Greece debt crisis: ECB tightens screw ahead of emergency eurozone summit – as it happened
The leaders of France and Germany say the door is still open to Greece, as banks are shuttered for two more days and a new finance minister sworn in
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He accused Tsipras, the radical leftist prime minister who outmanoeuvred the rest of the eurozone with his plebiscite, of ruthlessly pursuing the Greek national interest at everyone else’s expense. His message suggested a Grexit was now inevitable as he stressed the need for EU humanitarian programmes to forestall social implosion in Greece.

Tsipras is expected to table new bailout proposals on Tuesday to eurozone leaders meeting in Brussels after he ditched the flamboyant Varoufakis. Over five months of negotiations, Varoufakis, a leftwing economist and neophyte politician, has rubbed his interlocutors up the wrong way, persistently arguing he is right and everyone else is wrong when it comes to dealing with the Greek debt crisis.

The detail of Sunday’s voting patterns left no doubt about the devastating verdict and the challenges it now presents to Europe’s leaders. Around 80% of voters under the age of 34 voted no on Sunday.

Germany’s Gabriel said the Greeks had simply rejected the single currency rules, while Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, delivered a cri de coeur lamenting the desperate situation the eurozone and the EU now found themselves in.

“Two political building sites need our work urgently, in European capitals and in Brussels,” he said. “If we stand still, prisoners of rules, regulations, and bureaucracy, Europe is over. Reconstructing a different Europe will not be easy … The first one is Greece, a country in very difficult social and economic conditions. Meetings tomorrow will have to indicate a conclusive solution to this emergency.”

Merkel has taken a hard line with Greece since Tsipras announced his snap referendum 10 days ago, while the French have been much more accommodating towards Athens. A brief statement issued after the leaders had dined together on Monday evening showed little sign of the two main EU leaders bridging their differences.

There were no signs either of movement from the eurozone towards the main demands from Athens – a new deal writing down the Greek debt mountain, as urged last week by the International Monetary Fund.

German government sources said there would be no debt reduction measures offered and that it was up to Greece, which ended negotiations with its creditors 10 days ago and called the referendum, to make the next move.

“In light of the decision by the Greek citizens, the conditions to start negotiations on a new aid programme are not met yet,” said Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert.

Valdis Dombrovskis, the most senior European commission official in charge of the euro, said the referendum result risked leaving everyone a loser. “The no result unfortunately widens the gulf between Greece and other eurozone countries … There is no easy way out of this crisis. Too much time and too many opportunities have been lost.”

A day of frantic politicking in Greece, and internationally, left few clues as to what happens next. Tsipras has persistently surprised and out-manoeuvred his opposite numbers, but without securing any net gains for a country in the throes of financial collapse. Greece’s bank holiday and the rationing of ATM withdrawals to €60 a day was extended until at least Thursday.

Analysis Greek referendum: smart response from Tsipras, but triumph may be brief
Larry Elliott
Larry Elliott Read more
The country’s banks are entirely dependent on the European Central Bank to keep standing and last night the ECB toughened it stance towards Greece’s banks by demanding they put up more collateral in return for the emergency liquidity allowance which has been keeping them afloat. The ECB said its government council is “closely monitoring the situation in financial markets and the potential implications for the monetary policy stance and for the balance of risks to price stability in the euro area”.

Tsipras spent much of the day with other Greek party leaders, resulting in the five-party national consensus behind his negotiating strategy committed to debt restructuring. Tsipras’s leftwing Syriza, and his rightwing nationalist coalition partner, Anel, were joined by centre-left Pasok, liberals To Potami, and centre-right New Democracy.