Month: August 2009

Man who raped teenager in Germany 12 years ago arrested

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New Delhi, August 31: After months of investigation, the Delhi Police arrested from the national capital a man who had allegedly raped a teenager in Germany 12 years ago, police said on Monday.

Jaswant Singh, 36, was arrested on Sunday night from his house in Adarsh Nagar area in northwest Delhi.

“The accused went to Germany in 1992 and was staying there illegally. In 1997, he along with two of his friends Karan Singh, an Indian, and Mohammad Shahzad, a Pakistani, assaulted and raped a 17-year-old German girl at Darmstadt in Germany,” a senior police officer said.

Contract killer’s death penalty converted to life imprisonment

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New Delhi, August 31: The Delhi High Court Monday converted the sentence of a contract killer who had killed a witness six years ago from death penalty to life imprisonment on the grounds that the case did not fall in the category of rarest of the rare.
Mani Gopal had murdered the witness, an eunuch, inside the Tis Hazari court premises in 2003 when she was going to record her evidence in a murder case.

Chinese police arrest over 1,000 people for cheating

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Beijing, August 31: Chinese police have busted nearly 280 gangs and arrested over 1,000 people for cheating, the public security ministry said on Monday.

The suspects usually called the victims on the phone and pretended to be their superiors, long-lost friends, even Mafia members before asking the victims to deposit money in their bank accounts.

The crackdown is part of a campaign launched by the government June 12 to maintain social stability ahead of China’s National Day celebrations, said Wu Heping, spokesman of the ministry.

After Madhuri M.F. Hussain turns to Deepika

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Mumbai, August 31: The gorgeous actress of Bollywood “Madhuri Dixit” made millions of men bold over round the world. Of course the most famous of all was the extraordinarily celebrated canvas artist “M.F. Hussain”.

The painter was head over heals in love with the beauty of the beautiful actress that he made her paintings galore. There was a time when the artist was said to be mad for her. But now the time has changed and so has Mr Hussain, Yes, the artist has turned “Deepika Padukone’s” way and he is now going to make portraits of her.

Salman Khan hugs Shahid Kapoor

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Mumbai, August 31: If you are Salman or Shahid fan, here’s some real good news for you. Muscle hunk Salman Khan and chocolate boy Shahid Kapoor, who together have been sharing some conflicts between them for a few years now, have finally decided to forgive all the misunderstandings and shake hands for peace.

The duo hugged each other gracefully at Salman’s show “10 Ka Dum”.

Saif-Shahid: Tiff for the best

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Mumbai, August 31: The war will continue as the run for becoming the best is never going to end. It’s been quite a while now as the top four positions amongst the commercially most successful actors have been taken up by the big guns of Bollywood “Shahrukh Khan”, “Aamir Khan”, “Hrithik Roshan” and of course “Akshay Kumar”.

All the four actors are trying their level best to seize power of each other from their relevant spots.

Brilliant Paul wins Nehru Cup for India

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New Delhi, August 31: Goalkeeper Subrata Paul shouldered India to a sensational 6-5 victory in a shootout over Syria and retain the ONGC Nehru football Cup, they won in 2007, at an overflowing Ambedkar Stadium Mnnday night.

Paul in an amazing display of reflexes and anticipation saved three spot kicks in the

tie-breaker after the two teams failed to score in regulation time and scored once each in the dying minutes of extra time.

Man-of-the-Match Paul, who had an outstanding tournament, blocked shots from Wael Ayan, Ahmad Haj Muhmad and Hamzeh Alattouni.

Alliance Foods to expand in South India

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Chennai, August 31: The Mumbai-based Alliance Foods, which became the first company to launch ready to cook breaded prawns in India this month, will be expanding operations in South India before going national, the company says.

Having launched the product in Bangalore Aug 15, the Rs.100-crore Alliance Foods will introduce its Cambay Tiger brand in Hyderabad and here next month and later in Cochin.

TERI, Nikkei to hold seminar on Kyoto Protocol

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New Delhi, August 31: Nikkei’s Global Eco-Business Forum, a conglomerate of government and private sector business enterprises from Japan and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), will organise a seminar on Kyoto Protocol Sep 5.

The seminar, to be held in Delhi, will explore setting up of partnerships and collaborations in India for introducing energy technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions.

—Agencies

Amitabh brand ambassador for Max New York

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New Delhi, August 31: Life insurance firm Max New York Life on Monday announced the appointment of actor Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador for Max Vijay, a product targeted at the poorer sections of society.

“Max Vijay is a unique product that has been designed keeping in mind the savings and protection needs of the common people,” the company said in a statement.

—Agencies

Comments from industry, experts on India’s growth

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New Delhi, August 31: The following are some comments by experts and representatives of Indian industry on India’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the first quarter of this fiscal, which expanded 6.1 percent: Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission: It is consistent with what we have been maintaining. This definitely shows the worst is finally over. We expect to see improved performance in subsequent quarters.

Uniform licence fee for telecom operators soon

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New Delhi, August 31: The government is mulling a uniform licence fee for various services offered by telecom operators, a top official said here on Monday.

“The DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is considering implementing a uniform licence fee,” said Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura at a conference organised by the Internet Service Providers Association of India.

Telecom operators currently pay between 6 percent and 10 percent of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to the government as licence fees for the right to offer telephony and related services.

Narayana Murthy’s daughter Akshata marries classmate

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Bangalore, August 31: Infosys mentor Narayan Murthy’s daughter Akshata Murthy has tied nuptial knot wit classmate of Stanford business school.
Earlier, relatives and friends congregated at a prominent city hotel to attend the wedding reception of Akshata.

Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy’s daughter, who entered into wedlock with her classmate from Stanford Business School.

The 29-year-old Akshata Murthy married to Rishi Sumak, an Indian based in the US.

The reception at the Leela Palace was attended by relatives and family friends.

WiMax rollout may be delayed in Telecom

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New Delhi, August 31: The dispute between the Department of Space (DoS) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) over vacation of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum can delay WiMax rollout, a senior official said here on Monday.

WiMax or wireless Internet is essential for increasing broadband penetration in the country-especially in rural areas. However, its rollout will be hampered as a result of the differences between the two departments over vacation of spectrum by DoS.

UAE to host alternative energy conference

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Dubai, August 31: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the Alternative Energy Convention in October this year, news agency reported.

The conference will be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre Oct 27-29.

The conference will discuss regional and global initiatives on carbon reduction, alternative energy initiatives and water management, among others, according to the report Sunday.

The alternative energy sector is expected to grow 25 percent annually and account for almost 70 percent of the global energy market through 2030.

RCom, Aircel to sign $300 mn infrastructure sharing deal

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New Delhi, August 31: Telecom majors Reliance Communications (RCom) and Aircel are on the verge of signing a $300-million agreement for sharing telecom infrastructure like towers, sources close to the deal said on Monday.

“The deal will offer RCom a revenue upside of over Rs.1,500 crore. It will cover end-to-end telecom infrastructure agreement for towers, voice carriage and bulk bandwidth,” said a person privy to the talks.

Angelina Jolie reprimands Brad Pitt

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Wahington, August 31: The hottest couple in the Hollywood arena seems to be having problems between them. As per the sources, After revealing that “Inglourious Basterd” had secretly shared blend up with a celebrity friend, “Angelina Jolie” issued an ultimatum to her beau “Brad Pitt”: “Get clean or get out”.

Some closer people say that Angelina reprimanded Brad to stop drinking and smoking drugs or check into rehabilitation centre.

Earlier, Brad had promised Angelina- that his addiction would end soon after he became a dad – and she believed her husband with closed eyes.

Australia won’t sell uranium to India, says Julia Gillard

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New Delhi, August 31: Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard Monday reiterated that her country will not sell uranium to India as it is yet to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
“Our decision was not aimed at India. As a principle, we don’t sell uranium to countries that have not signed the NPT,” Gillard told reporters here.

Several Australian authorities have already said this on earlier occasions after India and the US signed the civil nuclear agreement last year.

UAE trade minister seeks more foreign investments

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Slovenia, August 31: United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Trade Minister Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi met Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor here to explore ways for developing bilateral ties, WAM news agency reported Monday.
The UAE minister is visiting the country to attend the 4th Bled Strategic Forum here.

Lubna has invited Slovenia and other European countries to boost their investments in UAE.

Pahor said his country was keen to enhance trade and economic cooperation with the UAE.

Christina Aguilera’s husband is gem for her

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London, August 31: Pop Star Christina Aguilera is really indebted to her better half for taking her out of her painful past and is all praise to thank her husband.

In an interview, Christina turned emotional and said that it was the love of her husband that made possible to forget the horrifying and painful past.

Christina said that the love of her husband is increasing day per day and it was the love of her husband that was taking over the horrendous past.

—Agencies

World media forum calls for release of jailed Sri Lankan journalist

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Brussels, August 31: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s biggest organisdation of journalists, Monday criticised the 20-year jail term against senior Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam as “brutal and inhumane” and accused the authorities of abusing anti-terror laws to silence peaceful critics.

The High Court of Colombo convicted Tissainayagam, a prominent Tamil journalist, of “causing communal disharmony” and “receiving money from Tamil Tiger rebels to pay for his website”.

India retain Nehru Cup, beat Syria 6-5 in shootout

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New Delhi, August 31: India retained the Nehru Cup football won in 2007, defeating Syria 6-5 via a shootout after the two teams played goalless in the regulation time and 1-1 in the extra time at a packed Ambedkar Stadium here Monday.
Goalkeeper Subrata Paul was the hero of the match, making as many as three saves in the penalty shootout, including the last shot from Hamzeh Al Aitoni, triggering celebrations among the crowd.

Court pulls up MCD for not maintaining civic amenities

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New Delhi, August 31: A city court Monday pulled up the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for not maintaining civic amenities in the capital in spite of Supreme Court and Delhi High Court orders.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Ajay Pandey said, “Injury to the complainant and others is sufficient ground to proceed against them.”

The court also imposed a fine of Rs.15,000 each on 12 officials of the MCD.

Of the 12 MCD officials, six were present to give their reasons for the shabby state of the roads and other civic amenities in the capital.

India, Namibia sign uranium supply deal

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New Delhi, August 31: India and Namibia Monday signed five agreements, including one on civil nuclear energy which allows for supply of uranium from the African country.

This was decided at the start of President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s five-day visit to India – which is the first state visit by a foreign head of state in the second term of the United Progressive Alliance, which was re-elected to power in May 2009.

Two Belarusian fighter pilots killed, during air show in Poland

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Poland, August 31: A two-seat Belarusian Sukhoi Su-27UBM Flanker fighter jet crashed yesterday during an air show to which it was participating at Radom Air Base, Poland. Both the pilots didn’t manage to eject on time and were killed in the accident. Dynamic exhibitions at “Air Show 2009” have been cancelled, while static displays remain available for the guests.