Taj Mahal's white marble walls are under threat... from insect excrement: Monument to love is being turned green by bugs from nearby polluted river

The Taj Mahal's stunning white marble walls and decorative interior attracts millions of tourists to India every year but now the site is facing a disgusting new threat - from green insect excrement.

Authorities have ordered an investigation after green-tinged patches began appearing on the back wall of the monument to love, which stands on the banks of the heavily polluted Yamuna river.

The world famous tourist attraction has previously been damaged by India's air population, caused by decades of heavy industry in nearby cities.

Environmentalists believe the pollutants in the river have caused a rise in levels of algae, which has in turn led to a surge in the numbers of the insects which feed on it.

India's National Green Tribunal, which hears cases related to environmental protection, raised the issue last week. Now the state government of Uttar Pradesh, home to the world's most famous tomb, has ordered an inquiry.

'The state government is extremely concerned about this issue. People can rest assured that we will let no harm come to the Taj Mahal,' said the chief minister's spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary.

He said the chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, had ordered officials to find urgent solutions.

The alert was sounded by environmental activist DK Joshi.

'Three types of insects breeding in the stagnant and polluted waters of the Yamuna flowing behind the Taj Mahal are causing the problem,' he told AFP.

'They're attracted to the white sheen of the marble and the swarms are leaving behind greenish-black faeces, which is discolouring the ancient monument.'

Authorities have taken steps in recent years to try to protect the 17th-century monument from pollution from the nearby busy city of Agra, including banning local coal-powered industries.

The Taj - India's top tourist attraction - was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth in 1631.

It has drawn a string of world leaders and royalty including former US President Bill Clinton, while Diana, the late British princess, was famously photographed alone on a marble seat there in 1992.

District officials in Agra said they had not yet heard of the chief minister's directive but would take any action deemed necessary.

Smoking during pregnancy raises the risk of the baby developing schizophrenia in later life

Mothers-to-be who smoke during pregnancy increase the risk of their children developing schizophrenia, a study has revealed.

Researchers found that the more women were exposed to nicotine the greater chance they had of having a child affected by the severe mental illness.

Signs of heavy nicotine exposure in a mother's blood were associated with a 38 per cent increased likelihood of the condition.

Scientists analysed data on 1,000 schizophrenia patients and matched their birth and health records with those of non-affected 'control' individuals.

They assessed their smoking habits by looking at levels of a nicotine marker, cotinine, in their blood.

Based on this measurement, 20 per cent of mothers of schizophrenia patients were found to have smoked heavily while pregnant, compared with 14.7 per cent of mothers of controls.

Smoking when expecting is known to contribute to significant problems in the womb and following birth, including low birth weight and attentional difficulties.

Nicotine is known to cross the placenta easily and enter the foetal bloodstream, leading to neurodevelopmental abnormalities.

Senior researcher Professor Alan Brown, from the University of Columbia, New York, said: 'To our knowledge, this is the first biomarker-based study to show a relationship between foetal nicotine exposure and schizophrenia.'

Women participating in the study had been recruited into the Finnish Prenatal Study of Schizophrenia.

Blood tests were carried out during the first and early second trimesters (three month periods) of pregnancy.

Professor Brown said: 'These findings underscore the value of ongoing public health education on the potentially debilitating, and largely preventable, consequences that smoking may have on children over time.'

Further studies could shed light on exactly how nicotine affects a foetus' brain, he added.

'Finally, it is of interest to examine maternal cotinine in relation to bipolar disorder, autism, and other psychiatric disorders. '

In a previous study, Professor Brown and his colleagues showed that offspring of mothers who smoked while pregnant have an increased risk of bipolar disorder.

The research was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

MP seeks PM assurance on 2009 Cabinet unilateral conversion issue

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Claiming confusion, opposition lawmaker M Kulasegaran wants Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to provide assurance that the 2009 Cabinet decision against unilateral religious conversions of children by one parent still stands.

The Ipoh Barat MP described Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom’s recent remark that unilateral conversion to Islam by one parent was constitutional, was a “U-turn” of the Cabinet decision for minors to be raised in the original religion practised by their parents at the time of their marriage should one spouse later convert.

“The PM must step in to clear the air and assert that the 2009 Cabinet directive on unilateral conversion is very much intact,” Kulasegaran said during a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

“He should be bold enough to ask Jamil Khir to withdraw the new stand which is unfair, illogical and unreasonable,” he added.

Jamil Khir, in a parliamentary written answer yesterday, said that any law banning unilateral conversion would be “unconstitutional”.

“The public is shocked by this answer which is a set back on promised reforms in this area,” Kulasegaran said.

Despite the Cabinet directive, Putrajaya has yet to introduce laws regarding unilateral conversion.

Last year, a five-man Cabinet committee was set up to deal with interfaith custody and conversion.

“So is the parliamentary answer provided by Jamil Khir the latest and new policy stand taken by the Cabinet committee?” Kulasegaran asked.

The DAP legislator and lawyer insisted that the word “parent” under Article 160 (1) of the Federal Constitution mentioning the conversion of a minor should mean consent of both parents and not just one parent.

“It is obvious and clear that the 2009 Cabinet ruling on this issue was correctly decided and in line with the interpretation aspect,” he said.

Ex-loan shark gets death for burning wife

GEORGE TOWN: A former loan shark was sentenced to death after a High Court found him guilty of setting his wife on fire that resulted in her death about three years ago.

Judicial Commissioner Datuk Nordin Hassan ruled that prosecution had succeeded in proving its case against Chiam Nguang Huat beyond reasonable doubt.

Chiam, 42, was charged with murdering Lai Siew Fong, 36, at their home in Taman Bayu Mutiara, Bukit Mertajam, at around 4pm on June 24, 2013.

Lai's three siblings were present in the court.

Counsel Y. Anbananthan represented Chiam while DPP Amir Hamdzah Othman prosecuted.

Dr M: We must act like we have no parties to defeat Najib

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has called on the opposition and the public to cast aside their identities as party members in the upcoming twin by-elections to ensure Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's defeat.

Speaking after a meeting with several opposition MPs in Putrajaya, Mahathir said this was because some of Najib's policies, such as the goods and services tax, have burdened all regardless of political allegiances.

"We are agreed that in these by-elections we must behave as though we don't belong to any party.

"We are a people's movement... Everyone regardless of whether they are with BN or the opposition should support whoever is fighting against Najib," he said.

Most of the MPs attending the meeting were from DAP, namely Steven Sim, Zairil Khir Johari, Lim Lip Eng, Thomas Su, and Julian Tan.

Also in attendance were Amanah's Khalid Samad, Mujahid Yusof Rawa and Raja Kamarul Bahrin, Mahfuz Omar from PAS, and Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin from PKR.

They came in their personal capacities to discuss the upcoming by-elections.

However, they did not discuss which party should contest in Sungai Besar or Kuala Kangsar.

Mahathir said this would be discussed at another meeting involving those who signed the Citizens' Declaration during its launch, as well as the opposition.

Asked about the possibility of three-cornered contests, Mahathir expressed confidence that the issue could be dealt with.

"...two-, three- or five-cornered, we have our ways to deal with this."

No plan to hurt or kill Dharmendran, police inspector tells court

The Serious Crime Branch (D9) operation officer, Inspector S Hare Krishnan told the High Court here today that he and three others did not plan or intend to hurt or kill N Dharmendran, who died in a police lock-up in 2013.

Hare Krishnan, 43, who was then attached to the D9 Branch of Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent headquarters, said he did not even cause any form of injury to Dharmendran, who was detained on suspicion of attempted murder involving firearms.

The police inspector, who is currently on suspension, also denied that he and the three others were involved in Dharmendran's murder.

He said this during the examination-in-chief by his counsel M Athimulan in the defence proceedings before Judge Kamardin Hashim.

Hare Krishnan said that in the investigation of Dharmendran's case, he did not interrogate Dharmendran as the task was carried out by the interrogation team and he did not give any instruction for his men to interrogate Dharmendran.

Responsibility of lock-up officer

On Dharmendran's safety in the lock-up, Hare Krishnan said it was the responsibility of the lock-up officer and the 24-hour police officer on duty, and not his.

When asked how did he learn about Dharmendran's death, Hare Krishan said he learned about through a telephone call from the 24-hour police officer on duty, Corporal Nizam, at 4.30pm on May 21, 2013.

He said at that time, he had just reached home in Cheras after taking a statement from a shooting victim at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM).

Meanwhile, during cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim, Hare Krishnan said he never went to see Dharmendran in the lock-up even though he had access to do so.

Hare Krishnan, Sergeant Jaffri Jaafar, 46, Corporal Mohd Nahar Abd Rahman, 47, and Corporal Mohd Haswadi Zamri Shaari, 34, were accused of killing Dharmendran at the D9 interrogation room on Level 7 of the Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent headquarters in Jalan Hang Tuah between May 18 and 21, 2013.

They face the death sentence in convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

On Dec 12, 2014, Kamardin acquitted the four policemen from the murder charge at the end of the prosecution case without calling for their defence.

However, on Feb 26, 2016, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court acquittal of the policemen over the murder of Dharmendran and ordered them to enter their defence.

On April 28, 2016, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) set up to investigate the death of Dharmendran found that he had died due to the use of physical force by the police.

The trial continues tomorrow.

- Bernama