Month: September 2009

Karan Johar turns designer, includes Shah Rukh Khan

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Mumbai, September 03: We’ve got some real big news for you, The superb director of Bollywood Karan Johar has been designing clothing for Shahrukh for the past 12 years.

Now, Karan is starting his own garments firm. For this, he will merge in the actor and his better half Gauri Khan.

Well, Karan Johar is not satisfied with his career as a film director and producer. Now, he goes to become a designer. He confirmed that he is launching his own clothing line with partner Varun Bahl.

At Water Board, drink only mineral water

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Hyderabad, September 03: Officials of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board do not seem to trust the quality of the water they supply. So when some MPS, MLAs and MLCs visited their premises for a meeting recently, they promptly purchased bottled mineral water to serve VIPs.

Kolkata Fashion Week is now Emami Kolkata Fashion Week

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Kolkata, September 03: The second season of the Kolkata Fashion Week beginning Sep 9 has roped in fast-moving consumer goods major Emami Ltd as its title sponsor.

Cosmetic major Max Factor has tied up with Mindscapes Maestros Events & Sports for the Emami Kolkata Fashion Week.

Mindscapes Maestros, part of Mindscapes Group of Companies, has conceptualised and designed the event.

—IANS

Two more swine flu deaths in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad, September 03: Two persons suffering from swine flu died at the Government Chest Hospital, the nodal centre for the treatment of this infection on Wednesday morning.

Authorities have not released the names of the flu victims. One of them, a male aged about 24 years, is a resident of Green Park Colony and the other was stated to be a woman, aged around 35 years.

There are more than 100 confirmed cases of swine flu in Andhra Pradesh. A significant aspect of swine flu management is that the State has not reported any deaths so far.

-Agencies

White House Iftar, Muslim Leaders Absent

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Washington, September 03: US President Barack Obama hosted a White House iftar to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, but while he used the event to praise US Muslims’ contributions to the society, the absence of community leaders was sorely noted, reported.

“Together, we have a responsibility to foster engagement grounded in mutual interest and mutual respect,” Obama told the gathering at the interfaith iftar held in the State Dining Room.

Charting the route YSR took – where did the chopper go?

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Hyderabad, September 03: Following is the blow by blow account of the missing helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy:

• 08:35 AM – Twin-engine Bell 430 AP government helicopter carrying the Chief Minister takes off from old Begumpet airport.

• The helicopter, also carrying Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary S Subramanyam and Chief Security Officer A S C Wesley, heads for Chitoor district.

Hyderabad student dies in Dayton accident

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New York, September 03: A native of Hyderabad studying in the first year master’s degree in electrical engineering at Wright State University died in a freak accident in Dayton, Ohio, according to information available from a community organisation.

Naresh Dacha, 22, met with the car accident yesterday at 0530 hrs. The student died instantly when his car hit a tree while he was driving on the highway, known as Route 22. Varun, a friend of Dacha sitting in the front seat, survived the crash with minor injuries, community activist Prasad Thotakura said in a statement.

Sania Mirza crashes out of US Open

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New York, September 03: Tenth seed Flavia Pennetta dished out the first whitewash of the US Open on Wednesday when she demolished Sania Mirza 6-0, 6-0 in the second round.

Pennetta, the first Italian woman to reach the world’s top 10, raced to victory in just 50 minutes to set up a second-round clash with French 17th seed Amelie Mauresmo or Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada.

While Pennetta has been riding a hot streak, winning the title in Los Angeles last month, world number 74 Mirza has been playing most of her tennis on the ITF circuit, a level below the main tour.

Helicopter was in contact till 9.12 a.m.

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Hyderabad, September 03: The pilot of the helicopter that carried Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy made the last contact with the Air Traffic Controller of the Shamshabad airport here at 9.12 a.m. on Wednesday.

The Bell 430 chopper took off from the Begumpet airport at 8.38 a.m., and the pilot spoke to the Shamshabad airport ATC at 8.39 a.m. He stayed in touch till 9.12 a.m., after which there was no contact, according to R.K. Singla, Director, Hyderabad International and Begumpet Airports.

Tribals, not technology, helped in the past

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Hyderabad, September 03: Although the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government are sparing no effort to locate Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s chopper with aerial reconnaissance and satellite imagery, it is pertinent to note that it was human intelligence and not high-end technology that helped locate two chopper crash sites in recent times.

Uncertainty prevails as ISRO, Sukhois, Army search for YSR

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Hyderabad, September 03: Unable to locate CM YSR Reddy, the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday evening announced that the search and rescue operation was being carried out on a war footing as daylight slipped away.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Ramakant Reddy told reporters that the Air Force, ISRO and Government of India were providing all possible help in the search operations. He said the operations have been marred by inclement weather and rainfall which was expected to continue for the next 48 hours.

5000 CRPF, Greyhounds & Sukhoi jet join search for CM

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Hyderabad, September 02: A helicopter carrying Chief Minister Y,S, Rajasekhar Reddy is missing for ten hours since it took off from here, triggering concerns about his safety.

At 7.15 pm, finance minister K. Rosaiah said there was still no word from the Chief Minister, the personnel accompanying him or the aircraft crew.

The IAF has pressed into service a Su-30MKI fighter aircraft with synthetic aperture radar for high resolution ground mapping in and around Kurnool to locate the copter.

Music Written For Monkeys Strikes A Chord

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New York, September 02: Music has great power to alter our emotions — making us happy or sad, agitated or calm. Psychologists have tried in vain to figure out why that happens. Now, a composer says he’s has a clue. And he got it by writing music not for humans, but for monkeys.

David Teie plays cello with the National Symphony Orchestra and even on occasion with the heavy metal band Metallica. He’s also a composer.

EBay To Sell 65 Percent Of Skype

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Washington, September 02: Internet auction house eBay is selling control of Skype for about $2 billion. Under the deal, eBay will retain ownership of about one-third of the online telecommunications unit. Skype has more than 400 million customers who use it to make mostly international calls. Calls between Skype users are free.

—Agencies

Taliban Suicide Strike Kills Afghan Deputy Spy Chief

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Taliban, September 02: A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives as Afghanistan’s deputy chief of intelligence visited a mosque east of Kabul on Wednesday, killing the Afghan official and 22 others.

The attack struck at the heart of Afghanistan’s intelligence service and underscored the Taliban’s increasing ability to carry off complex and targeted attacks.

Chile Deals With Warrants For Pinochet-Era Figures

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Chile, September 02: A Chilean judge has issued warrants for more than 100 former Chilean soldiers and agents of the National Intelligence Directorate, known as the DINA. Playwright Ariel Dorfman joins us to discuss the warrants and what they mean for those who survived the “dirty war.”

—Agencies

YSR?s fate uncertain, Sukhoi fighter, NRSA craft continue search

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Hyderabad, September 02: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s fate appeared uncertain Wednesday night, 12 hours after a helicopter carrying him went missing, even as a Sukhoi SU-30MKI combat jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and a low-flying aircraft of the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) began search operations that were expected to continue till late into the night.

No Naxal strike on YSR’s chopper says NSA

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New Delhi, September 02: National Security Advisor M K Narayanan on Wednesday appeared to completely rule out the possibility of Naxals bringing down the helicopter of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S R Reddy that went missing in the state, saying the ultras did not have such a capability.

He said it was quite possible that a technical snag or a pilot error could have led to the chopper going missing.

“Naxal strike seems extremely improbable. I would almost entirely rule it out. I do not think the Naxalites have the capability to bring down the helicopter,” Narayanan said here.

Outlook ‘grave’ for Barrier Reef

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Canberra, September 02: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest living organism, is under grave threat from climate warming and coastal development, and its prospects of survival are “poor”, a major new report found on Wednesday.

While the World Heritage-protected site, which sprawls for more than 345 000km² off Australia’s east coast, is in a better position than most other reefs globally, the risk of its destruction was mounting.

Chrome gets Sony boost

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Tokyo, September 02: Sony said on Tuesday that its Vaio-brand computers sold in the United States would have Google’s Chrome as their default internet browser, boosting the search engine giant’s fight against rival Microsoft.

Sony said the decision was based on Chrome’s “quality and functions”.

Google launched Chrome in September but it has failed to enjoy the spectacular success of its search engine.

Chrome was the fourth-ranking web browser with a market share of 1.2% in February, according to research firm Net Applications.

Risky plans ‘Earth’s only hope’

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London, September 02: Sci-fi proposals to cool the planet are laden with risk but may be Earth’s only hope if politicians fail to tackle global warming, scientists said on Tuesday in their biggest evaluation to date of “geo-engineering” concepts.

The verdict by Britain’s prestigious Royal Society came little more than three months before a UN showdown in Copenhagen on how to reduce the carbon emissions that drive climate change.

Spacewalkers tackle hefty tank

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Cape Canaveral, September 02: A pair of spacewalkers successfully tackled a hefty tank removal job at the international space station on Tuesday as their crewmates unloaded comedian Stephen Colbert’s namesake treadmill for all “those famously fat astronauts”.

The only concern Nicole Stott and Danny Olivas had about mass – everything is weightless up there, after all – involved the huge ammonia tank they needed to disconnect. They held the freed 600kg tank steady until a robot arm grabbed it.

Hoax video fools Jackson fans

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Berlin, September 02: A hoax video purportedly showing Michael Jackson emerging from a coroner’s van was an experiment aimed at showing how quickly misinformation and conspiracy theories can race across the internet, German broadcaster RTL said on Tuesday.

The video was posted by RTL on YouTube for a single day a week ago and received 880 000 hits. The broadcaster has since removed the video from YouTube, but it has been picked up by other websites around the world.

Free trips for web savvy

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Bangkok, September 02: Attention internet-savvy travellers: Thailand is giving away free trips to five lucky couples who don’t mind sitting in front of a computer while on vacation.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand launched a new campaign on Tuesday offering five couples fully paid trips to the country’s most popular cities and beaches.

In return, they will be asked to blog, chat and tweet about their holiday in a bid to win a grand prize of $10 000, a BlackBerry and a video camera.

Surgery followed on Twitter

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Des Moines, September 02: From anaesthesia to the recovery room, 70-year-old Monna Cleary’s children followed her surgery – 140 characters or less at a time.

Twitter is opening doors to the sterile confines of operating rooms, paving the way for families – and anyone else for that matter – to follow a patient’s progress as they go under the knife.

Most of the Cleary family chose to track the developments from a laptop computer in the hospital’s waiting room. But one daughter-in-law kept tabs from work.