The Indian Panorama

Year: 2014

  • UN member states owe world body about $3.5 billion

    UN member states owe world body about $3.5 billion

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP): The UN management chief says member states owe the world body about USD 3.5 billion for its regular operating budget and far-flung peacekeeping operations.

    Yukio Takasu told reporters after briefing the General Assembly’s budget committee on Thursday that “as a whole the financial situation of the United Nations is very sound and generally good except the regular budget.”

    Unpaid assessments for the regular budget total just over USD 950 million, including about USD 800 million owed by the United States, USD 77 million by Brazil and USD 28 million by Venezuela, he said.

    Member states owe about USD 2.6 billion to the separate peacekeeping budget, Takasu said.

    France owes USD 356 million, the United States USD 337 million and Italy around USD 250 million, he said.

  • U.S. CEOS AND CABINET OFFICIALS REINFORCE COMMITMENT TO INDIA TRADE AND INVESTMENT

    U.S. CEOS AND CABINET OFFICIALS REINFORCE COMMITMENT TO INDIA TRADE AND INVESTMENT

    USIBC Reaffirms $41 Billion Investment in India

    WASHINGTON DC (TIP): The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), on October 9, hosted its 39th Anniversary Leadership Summit in the wake of Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s historic visit to the United States. The summit, entitled “A New Chapter: Fast Tracking Growth,” brought together industry and government leaders from both India and the U.S. to continue the work of furthering economic ties between the two nations.

    Ambassador Dr. S. Jaishankar provided the opening address expressing gratitude to Modi for generating so much enthusiasm about U.S. and India during his recent visit. The summit’s closing keynotes came from State Bank of India Chairman Smt. Arundhati Bhattacharya and United States Trade Representative Michael Froman. Froman spoke at length about helping India become “a key part of global supply chains” in manufacturing and other arenas.

    USIBC Chairman Ajay Banga, president and CEO of MasterCard opened the evening with an affirmation of the renewed faith and hope in the future of the U.S.-India trade relationship.

    “That admiration for India is today being matched by a renewed optimism about India in the U.S. and around the world,” said Banga to a packed House in the Hall of Flags at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

    Banga closed his remarks by saying, “There’s never been a better nor a more vital time for the U.S. and India to work together – than right now. Let us seize a defining moment in a defining partnership.”

    The evening also featured special remarks by Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall on the U.S.-India Defense Trade & Technology Initiative as well as an armchair conversation between U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Mahindra CEO, Anand Mahindra. Pritzker noted, “Our leaders hope that our bilateral trade will grow five fold.”

    It will take “tough work,” Pritzker said, and a willingness to “get down to specifics, that’s how you make progress.”

    Also during the Summit, USIBC presented its prestigious Global Leadership Awards to Mr. Steven A. Kandarian, CEO – MetLife Inc. and to Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman Aditya Birla Group for their company’s outstanding contributions to the U.S.-India growth story.

    The events closing colloquy featured a discussion between U.S. Trade Ambassador Michael Froman and USIBC Chairman Ajay Banga. “One of the great strengths of this relationship is that you do have a very active business communities in both places” working to strengthen economic ties, Froman said.

    Summarizing the event USIBC Acting President Diane Farrell concluded, “In a few years’ time my hope is that people will say, yes, these two nations are the world’s oldest and largest democracies. They are also the world’s strongest partners in trade where they celebrate democracy.

    The USIBC now turns its attention to the U.S.-India Technology Summit in New Dehli. At the summit, the council will put together a “Smart Cities” conclave and USIBC ICT Mission. Joining USIBC will be senior executives from member companies including IBM, Cisco and others where they will have extensive discussions with the Ministry of Urban Development, Department of IT, DIPP, DOT, and other relevant government departments. And at the beginning of 2015 USIBC will lead a CEOs Mission to participate in Vibrant Gujarat.

    About USIBC
    Formed in 1975 at the request of the U.S. and Indian governments, the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) is the premier business advocacy organization advancing U.S.-India commercial ties. Today, USIBC is the largest bilateral trade association in the United States, with liaison presence in New York, Silicon Valley, and New Delhi, comprised of 310 of the top-tier U.S. and Indian companies. The Chairman of USIBC is Ajay Banga, President and CEO, MasterCard.

    Press Release

  • Protests in US after policeman fires 17 shots killing black teen in St Louis

    Protests in US after policeman fires 17 shots killing black teen in St Louis

    ST LOUIS (TIP): A white off-duty policeman shot and killed a black teenager in St Louis on October 8, officers said, triggering a night of protests just miles from the site of another police shooting of another black youth in the suburb of Ferguson.

    Police said the 18-year-old was armed and fired three shots while he was being chased by the officer, and they had recovered a gun at the scene.

    The youth was killed almost two months to the day since sometimes violent protests erupted in Ferguson after a white police officer shot dead unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown.

    In October 8 Wednesday’s shooting, the dead man was one of three people who fled after being approached by the officer, a six-year veteran of the department who was working for a private security company, St Louis metropolitan police chief Sam Dotson said.

    The officer, who was wearing his city police uniform, fired 17 shots at the teenager, police added.

    A crowd of around 200 gathered at the scene in the south St. Louis neighborhood of Shaw, 11 miles (18 km) south of Ferguson. Many of the protesters marched to a major thoroughfare, partially blocking traffic and chanting “Whose streets? Our streets?” as a police helicopter hovered overhead.

    Teyonna Myers, 23, told the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that she was the cousin of the suspect and that he was unarmed when he was killed.

    “He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun. It’s like Michael Brown all over again,” she told the paper. Police have not named the teenager.

    At one point, about a dozen people punched and kicked two occupied police vehicles, one that was marked and another that was unmarked. Demonstrators then broke the back window of a marked police vehicle.

    None of the protesters, some of whom were from Ferguson, had been arrested by the early hours of Thursday, police chief Dotson told a news conference.

    “I think the department showed a tremendous amount of restraint,” Dotson said.

    The officer, who was not hurt, has been placed on administrative leave and an investigation was under way, police said.

    St Louis’ historic Shaw district has a relatively low crime rate — as of September, there had been no homicides this year and just five cases of aggravated assault, according to police crime statistics.

    In Ferguson, a grand jury is expected to decide next month whether to bring criminal charges against police officer Darren Wilson, who shot dead Michael Brown on August 9.

    Brown’s death triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests, prompting the governor at one point to summon the National Guard.

    Missouri authorities are drawing up contingency plans and seeking intelligence from other police departments around the country, fearing that fresh riots could erupt if a grand jury does not indict Wilson.

  • Why US didn’t share anything on Osama’s hideout with Pakistan

    Why US didn’t share anything on Osama’s hideout with Pakistan

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Pakistani spy agency ISI having close ties with terror groups is an open secret and this was the reason why the US did not share the intelligence about the raid on Osama bin Laden’s hideout with Islamabad, former defense secretary and ex-CIA director Leon Panetta has said.

    “We had been discussing this for months, and it was an open secret that Pakistan’s intelligence agency had ties to terrorist groups — that, after all, was a major part of our rationale for not sharing our bin Laden intelligence with the ISI,” Panetta wrote in his book ‘Worthy Fights:

    A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace’ which hit the stores on october 8. Panetta was the CIA director in the first term of the Obama administration and was also his defence secretary later. In both these position, Panetta was a strong advocate of US-Pakistan relationship and always came out in strong defence of ISI and the Pakistan army whenever there were allegations of the spy agency having links with the terrorist outfit. In fact, while serving in the Obama administration —both as CIA chief and defence secretary —Panetta always issued certificates to ISI on allegations of its links with terror outfit.

  • Cyclone Hudhud

    Cyclone Hudhud

    Cyclone Hudhud likely to hit Odisha, Andhra on Oct 12

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The MeT department has announced that cyclonic storm Hudhud is expected to get severe in the next 12 hours and will be accompanied with very heavy rainfall and gusty winds as it inches closer to the coast.

    On October 9 evening, Hudhud was 675-km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam and 685-km southeast of Gopalpur in Orissa, moving closer to the coast. The system would continue to move west-northwestwards and intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours.

    The cyclone would cross north Andhra Pradesh coast around Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of October 12, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

    On October 8 , the cyclone had been oriented at about 1,100-km southeast of Gopalpur and 1,150-km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam at around 11.30 a.m. The weather office has issued a heavy rainfall warning for the north Andhra Pradesh coast and south Orissa.

    Under the influence of the system, rainfall at most places, with heavy (6.5-12.4-cm) to very heavy falls (12.5- 24.4-cm) at a few places and isolated extremely heavy rainfall (more than 24.5-cm) would occur over south Orissa from the evening of October 11 onwards. Rainfall would occur at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places (likely) over Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of north coastal Andhra, the IMD said.

    According to the weather office, squally winds reaching speeds of 50-60 kmph gusting to 70 kmph would commence along and off the north Andhra Pradesh and south Orissa coasts from the morning of October 11. Wind speed would increase to 130-140 -kmph gusting to 150-kmph from October 12. Sea condition would be rough to very rough from the morning of October 11. It would gradually become phenomenal from morning of October 12.

    The IMD has warned that, under the influence of the system, there was a threat of extensive damage to kutcha houses, partial disruption of power and communication lines, minor disruption of rail and road traffic.

  • SUNANDA PUSHKAR DEATH DUE TO POISONING: MEDICAL TEAM

    SUNANDA PUSHKAR DEATH DUE TO POISONING: MEDICAL TEAM

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The medical team probing the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, has concluded that she died of poisoning.

    The team comprised three doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and was headed by Dr Sudhir Gupta, who had earlier alleged that the team was pressured into giving a ‘tailor-made’ report in the case.

    The report did not name the specific poison or chemical that caused the death. Instead, it listed a number of poisons that cannot be detected in Indian labs. These include thallium, polonium 210 (a radioactive substance of which a few milligrams is lethal), nerium oleander, snake venom, photolabile poisons and heroin.

    Among the 15 injuries the team examined on Sunanda’s body, it found ‘injury number 10’ to be a mark caused by the needle of a syringe.

    The team found no traces of anti-anxiety drug Alprax in her stomach, despite two strips containing 15 pills each of the drug being found next to the body.

    What the team found was ethyl alcohol, caffeine, acetaminophen and cotinine in Sunanda’s body. It has asked for forensic analysis of Sunanda’s bedsheet and pillow cover.

    The report may force Delhi Police to register an FIR in the case as none has been filed so far. The case has been investigated through inquest proceedings, that is, as a case of unnatural death.

    Sunanda was found dead in a five-star hotel room on January 17 in the capital this year.

    The new report was completed on September 27 and received by the investigating officer, V K P S Yadav, on September 30. The earlier IO, Atul Sood, was transferred a month ago and the ACP supervising the investigations, Surinder Sharma, retired in late September. The area DCP, too, was shifted to the traffic department a fortnight ago.

    The report comes in the wake of the CFSL’s viscera report that found Sunanda’s heart, liver and kidneys to be normal.

    In the report, the team lambasted Delhi Police for not submitting several crucial documents required to form a medical opinion. It said the cops did not submit any report on the reason for the injuries in Sunanda’s body. The team also said an analysis of circumstantial evidence in the case was required to be carried out but wasn’t.

  • CONGRESS SLAMS NARENDRA MODI AS ‘ABSENTEE PM’

    CONGRESS SLAMS NARENDRA MODI AS ‘ABSENTEE PM’

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Congress on October 9 accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of putting politics over national duty, pointing to his absence from Delhi as tensions mount on the border with Pakistan.

    AICC spokesman Anand Sharma said, “When we have such a serious issue at our borders, we should not have an absentee Prime Minister.”

    He said Modi was a “control freak” who “wants to be everywhere… whether by design or default, the PM has been absent during the crucial period. He has been busy pretending to be the chief ministerial face for every state, be it Maharashtra or Haryana”.

    Sharma said the statement on Pakistani firing from defence minister Arun Jaitley came very late. “It is good that the finance minister, who holds the additional charge of defence ministry, has finally spoken… For days, there was neither the PM nor the defence minister in sight. India cannot choose to have a part-time defence minister,” he said.

    Congress slammed Jaitley for his statement that opposition’s criticism was “ill-informed”, saying the opposition had not been taken into confidence over the matter and it was the PM and his government that were acting “irresponsibly” on the issue.

    “Did the Prime Minister have the basic courtesy to call the leaders of principal opposition parties of both Houses to discuss it?” he asked.

  • JAYALALITHA MOVES SC FOR BAIL

    JAYALALITHA MOVES SC FOR BAIL

    Urges apex court to grant urgent hearing after High Court had refused her earlier bail plea

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, denied bail by Karnataka High Court following her conviction and four year sentence in a graft case, moved the Supreme Court for bail on October 9.

    The AIADMK chief, who is behind bars for the last 12 days, challenged the High Court order which refused her bail plea. She urged the apex court to grant an urgent hearing on her plea on Saturday during the mentioning hour. Jayalalitha said she has been sentenced only for four years and is also suffering from various ailments as grounds for her immediate relief.

    She said as chief minister she did not misuse her powers in this case.

    She also cited grounds of being a senior citizen and a woman in a bid to get out of jail.

    The 66-year-old veteran politician was denied bail by the High Court on October 7 despite the Special Public Prosecutor not objecting to grant of conditional bail.

    In her petition seeking immediate bail, Jayalalitha maintained that the charge of amassing wealth during 1991-96 when she was chief minister for the first time was false and that she had acquired property through legal means. She also contended the trial court had overlooked several judgements and not considered the binding nature of various income tax orders and decisions of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which had accepted the income and the level of expenditure pleaded by her. There “are no grounds” to give bail to Jayalalitha. Corruption amounts to “violation of human rights” and leads to economic imbalance, the High Court judge had said. The HC also rejected bail pleas of Jayalalitha’s close aide Sasikala and her relatives V N Sudhakaran, disowned foster-son of the former chief minister, and Ilavarasi, who have also been sentenced to four years jail in the 18-year-old case.

  • SC asks CBI if it intends to examine Chidambaram

    SC asks CBI if it intends to examine Chidambaram

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Supreme Court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on October 9 if it proposed to examine former finance minister P. Chidambaram on the clearance given to the Aircel-Maxis deal over which charges had been filed some time ago.

    BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy told the court that while charges on deal had already been been filed, there seemed to be no progress on CBI’s part to seek clarifications on the nod given by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) at Chidambaram’s behest.

    The apex court bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice S.A. Bobde asked senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the CBI, to apprise the court on this count at the next hearing, fixed for Oct 16.

  • Survey gives BJP, allies 154 seats in Maharashtra

    Survey gives BJP, allies 154 seats in Maharashtra

    NEW DELHI (TIP): A survey carried out in Maharashtra ahead of the October 15 assembly elections has given BJP and allies 154 of the 288 seats, but Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray tops the popularity chart as chief ministerial candidate.

    Incumbent Prithviraj Chavan is the second choice for chief minister though his party Congress is predicted to get an abysmally low 25 seats.

    Percentage wise, BJP has been placed way ahead of its rivals by 36.50 per cent votes followed by 17.10 per cent of Shiv Sena and 11.97 per cent of Congress.

    The survey conducted by ‘The Week’ and Hansa Research, paints a gloomy picture for Sharad Pawar’s NCP, which is projected to get only 17 seats and 5.85 per cent votes.

    Pawar is the fifth choice for the chief minister’s post and stands behind MNS leader Raj Thackeray and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis.

    Shiv Sena is predicted to be the second largest party after BJP with 47 seats, while Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, according to the survey, is likely to get 10 seats. MNS is predicted to get 5.11 per cent votes. The survey has given 20 seats to Independents with 4.71 per cent votes and 15 to other parties with 6.79 per cent votes.

    After 15 years of running coalition government in Maharashtra, Congress and NCP have parted ways and BJP-Shiv Sena’s old alliance has also fallen apart paving the way for a five-cornered contest, with MNS being the fifth player which has recently made noises favourable to Shiv Sena.

    BJP is going to polls with smaller “Mahayuti” allies. It has worked out a seat-sharing deal with Mahadeo Jankar’s Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Raju Shetty’s Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha, Shiv Sangram and RPI.

    PARTIES IN THE FRAY
    BJP, SHIV SENA, NCP, CONGRESS & MNS

  • Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in India, looks to work with PM Modi on connecting villages

    Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in India, looks to work with PM Modi on connecting villages

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, was in India recently. Star-struck audience assembled to hear the 30-year-old billionaire on his first ever business trip to India.

    Mark appeared a little awkward to begin but soon after a few slides into the presentation on his pet theme –
    Internet.org, an ambitious project aimed to bring internet access to the unconnected billions – the awkwardness ebbed.

    Over some 20 minutes or so Zuckerberg, a self-professed atheist, held forth with near religious zeal on his desire to bring the next five billion people on to the Internet. “Connectivity cannot be the privilege of the rich,” he told the 500 or so people assembled in Delhi’s Taj Palace hotel, many of them Facebook’s top customers in India, a bunch of internet entrepreneurs and assorted media.

    It also helps that this vision aligns with his business, whose future growth in large parts depends on getting more and more people embrace the Internet. India is a crucial piece in achieving his internet for all mission, launched last August and is a joint initiative of Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung.

    And Zuckerberg (or Zuck as he is called by friends), unsurprisingly perhaps, was lavish in his praise about the country which he has visited only once before in 2010 to attend a friend’s (Dropbox founder Aditya Agrawal) wedding and when he was photographed in a sherwani dancing barefeet. “Culturally this is the country that is very forward leading in science, engineering and research that make the benefits of connectivity here very profound for all,” said Zuckerberg, who is worth around $34 billion and the third richest American in the technology industry.

    In India, he said, the impact will be even more profound “because you have some of the best engineers in the world and a vibrant technology industry”. On Friday, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an avid user of Facebook who exploited its networking and communicative abilities to the hilt during his successful election campaign and has also sought to make it an integral part of his administration. Modi’s verified Facebook page currently has nearly 2.3 crore “likes” or followers, and almost all major government departments and ministries have Facebook pages.

  • NORTH KOREA LEADER KIM IS STILL IN CHARGE, HAS INJURED LEG: SOURCE

    NORTH KOREA LEADER KIM IS STILL IN CHARGE, HAS INJURED LEG: SOURCE

    BEIJING/SEOUL (TIP): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is in firm control of his government but has hurt his leg, a source with access to the secretive North’s leadership said on October 9, playing down speculation over the 31-year-old’s health and grip on power. North Korea’s state media, which usually chronicles Kim’s whereabouts in great detail, has not made any mention of his activities since he attended a concert with his wife on Sept. 3. The source said that Kim hurt his leg while inspecting military exercises. “He ordered all the generals to take part in drills and he took part too. They were crawling and running and rolling around, and he pulled a tendon,” the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “He injured his ankle and knee around late August or early September while drilling because he is overweight. He limped around in the beginning but the injury worsened,” the source said. Kim, who has rapidly gained weight since coming to power after his father died of a heart attack in 2011, had been seen walking with a limp since an event with key officials in July, which would imply he may have aggravated an earlier injury. Kim needs about 100 days to recuperate, said the source, whose information could not be independently verified. “Kim Jong Un is in total control,” said the source, who has close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing. Friday is the 69th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, an event Kim has marked in the past two years with a post-midnight visit to the Pyongyang mausoleum where the bodies of his father and grandfather are interred. If Kim does not turn up, it could fuel speculation over the state of his health and whether he may have been sidelined in a power struggle, experts said. “The longer he remains out of the public eye, the more uncertainty about him, and the status of his regime, will grow,” said Curtis Melvin, a researcher at the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. Not Kim’s first absence North Korean officials have denied that Kim’s public absence since early September is health-related and a U.S. official following North Korea said this week there were no indications he was seriously ill or in political trouble. It remains unclear why a leg injury would keep Kim out of the public eye for so long, although this is not the first time he has been missing from public view. In June 2012, six months after coming to power, state media failed to report on or photograph him for 23 days. He re-surfaced the next month at a dolphinarium. Speculation that Kim’s unusually long absence from public view may be due to ill health was fuelled by a North Korean TV report late last month that said he was suffering from “discomfort”. Some Pyongyang watchers also suggest that Kim may have been sidelined in a power struggle, a scenario they say was reinforced by the unexpected visit on Saturday of a high-level delegation to the closing ceremony of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. Another interpretation of that visit holds that it was meant to convey stability in Pyongyang.

  • Anti-EU UKIP party wins first elected seat in British parliament

    Anti-EU UKIP party wins first elected seat in British parliament

    CLACTON-ON-SEA, ENGLAND (TIP): Britain’s anti-EU UK Independence Party won its first elected seat in parliament on October 9 by a wide margin. In the English seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, UKIP candidate Douglas Carswell won 21,113 votes or 60 percent of the vote, giving him a majority of 12,404. Carswell, formerly the sitting parliamentarian from Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party, had triggered the by-election by defecting to UKIP. Cameron’s party came second with 8,709 votes or 25 percent of the vote. Labour came third with 3,957 votes. Turnout was 51 percent. UKIP’s success highlighted the threat it poses to Cameron seven months before a national election and its ability to split the mainstream Conservative party’s vote casting a cloud over its re-election prospects in 2015.

  • Suicide car bomb kills 10 in Iraq’s Baquba

    Suicide car bomb kills 10 in Iraq’s Baquba

    BAQUBA: A suicide car bomb blast at a police checkpoint in the Iraqi city of Baquba Thursday killed at least 10 people and wounded 11, security and medical sources said. “At least 10 people, including seven policemen, were killed when a suicide attacker rammed his car bomb into a police checkpoint at an entrance of the Shifta neighbourhood,” an army officer said. Shifta is a central district of Baquba, a city which lies around 60 kilometres northeast of the capital Baghdad. The army officer said the attack occurred at around 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) and also wounded 11 people, including seven policemen. A senior local police official and a doctor at Baquba general hospital both confirmed the casualty figures. Baquba is the capital of the restive and religiously mixed province of Diyala, where Kurdish peshmerga, federal forces and allied militia have been battling the Islamic State jihadist group.

  • Clashes break out in Central African Republic capital

    Clashes break out in Central African Republic capital

    BANGUI, Central African Republic: Clashes in Central African Republic’s capital have resulted in ”many casualties,” the International Committee for the Red Cross said Thursday, marking the most significant violence in the city since a United Nations force took over peacekeeping last month. A crash following an attack on a convoy killed one UN peacekeeper and injured at least seven others, Vannina Maestracci, associate spokeswoman for the UN secretary-general, said in New York. It was the first death of a peacekeeper since the UN took over peacekeeping duties from an African Union force. The violence complicated relief efforts. Doctors Without Borders said its staff was staying home Thursday because of the dangers, and the ICRC said its workers ”were subjected to direct threats” as they tried to recover bodies. ”It’s truly regrettable that such actions can jeopardize any attempt to help the wounded,” said Antoine Mbao Bogo, the national president of the Central African Red Cross. His organization provided an initial tally of 12 deaths, but staffers did not have access to all neighborhoods. The violence began Tuesday when a former fighter with a mostly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition was killed by anti-Balaka Christian militias who mutilated his body before burning it, witnesses said. The man had been accused of launching two grenades, one in an anti-Balaka stronghold in the north of the city, prompting the anti-Balaka fighters to chase after him. ”He was chased by anti-Balaka fighters who caught him, killed him and burned his body,” Bangui resident Wilfried Maitre said. Reprisal attacks ensued, with Muslim fighters killing two people, including the driver of a taxi, witnesses said. Other taxi drivers then staged a protest, raising tensions. Later on Wednesday, anti-Balaka fighters paraded through the streets, showing off their weapons and shooting into the air, said Pieterjan Wouda of Doctors Without Borders. ”That’s something we haven’t seen in a long time,” he said. Heavy weapons could be heard Thursday morning, Wouda said, adding that Doctors Without Borders staff would be staying home because it was not safe to move around. The mostly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition toppled the president of a decade last year, installing its chief, Michel Djotodia, as the country’s new leader. Widespread human rights abuses combined with escalating violence in the capital in December and January led to Djotodia’s resignation. The country is currently headed by transitional President Catherine Samba- Panza. At least 5,000 people have died over nine months of sectarian violence in the country. The International Crisis Group warned last month that the transition was at risk of falling apart. ”The main armed groups are in disarray, lack clear leadership, seek to expand their areas of control and pursue banditry as much as politics,” the group warned.

  • HONG KONG PROTESTERS VOW TO FIGHT ON AS TALKS COLLAPSE

    HONG KONG PROTESTERS VOW TO FIGHT ON AS TALKS COLLAPSE

    HONG KONG (TIP): Crunch talks between Hong Kong’s democracy protesters and the government have been called off, just hours after demonstrators vowed to ratchet up their occupation of key parts of the city if their demands were not met.

    The collapse of the talks, which were due to take place Friday, plunges the Asian financial hub into fresh crisis with protesters refusing to retreat from their barricades and an equally intransigent government rejecting further negotiations.

    Parts of Hong Kong have been paralysed for almost two weeks by demonstrations calling for Beijing to grant full democracy to the former British colony and for city leader Leung Chun-ying to resign.

    Although the crowds have shrunk dramatically from their peak of tens of thousands last week, the government’s decision to cancel the talks triggered a swell in numbers once more as pro-democracy campaigners gathered to hear the response from their leaders.

    Around 1,000 gathered at the main protest site outside government headquarters in the central Admiralty district late Thursday, a AFP reporter at the scene said.

    China announced in August that while Hong Kongers will be able to vote for Leung’s successor in 2017, only two or three vetted candidates will be allowed to stand — an arrangement the protesters dismiss as “fake democracy”.

    Hopes of a breakthrough were dashed Thursday evening as Leung’s deputy Carrie Lam announced the government was pulling out of talks with the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), which has been at the vanguard of the protests.
    “The basis for constructive dialogue has been undermined. It’s impossible to have a constructive meeting tomorrow,” Lam said.

    Her announcement came merely hours after a coalition of pro-democracy leaders gathered at the main protest site and vowed to ramp up their civil disobedience campaign if the talks broke down.
    “Hong Kong people will not retreat,” HKFS president Alex Chow had told reporters. “The Occupy movement must be ongoing.”
    Student leaders have urged officials to return to the negotiating table, labelling the government response an
    “international joke”.

    There was frustration among demonstrators after the government announced it had pulled out of the talks.

    “I’m very disappointed,” said Jason Coe, a 30-year-old tutor at Hong Kong University who was offering students at the protest help with their homework.

    “Last week the government were basically saying ‘Talk to us or we’ll use violence’. These protesters are willing to talk, they want to negotiate and the government has taken that away from them. I’m very worried about what will happen now.”

    Pro-democracy lawmakers threw their weight behind the protests, saying they would disrupt the workings of the Hong Kong government by gridlocking the parliamentary committees they control.

    “Hong Kong has entered an era of disobedience and non-cooperation,” pro-democracy lawmaker Alan Leong told the crowds.

    The threat was issued as embattled city leader Leung came under pressure to explain why he kept large payments from an Australian company secret, with pro-democracy lawmakers saying they would try to impeach him.
    Fairfax Media reported October 8 that Leung received two payments totalling HK$50 million ($6.5 million) from Australian engineering firm UGL during a deal struck in December 2011 —months before he took office, but a week after he announced his candidacy.

    At the time UGL was purchasing the insolvent property services firm DTZ, where Leung was a director and chairman of its regional operations.

  • MH17 victim found wearing oxygen mask: Dutch minister

    MH17 victim found wearing oxygen mask: Dutch minister

    LONDON (TIP): Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans has said that one of the passengers on the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 had an oxygen mask on, media reported on October 9.

    His revelation casts doubt on the theory that all 298 passengers on board died instantly when the plane was hit by a missile over Ukraine July 17, BBC reported.

    An initial report last month said flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by “objects” that “pierced the plane at high velocity”.

    He mentioned the oxygen mask during an interview on Wednesday night aired on Dutch TV in which he was taken to task about an emotive speech he gave to the UN four days after flight MH17 was downed.

    “But do you know that someone was found with an oxygen mask on their mouth — and so they had the time to put it on?” Timmermans said during the interview when asked if he had created an image that had not really taken place.

    He went on to say that nothing could be ruled out about the 298 victims’ final moments.
    The official inquiry into the MH17 disaster has not made any mention of an oxygen mask being found on one of the victims.

    But several experts have concluded that the plane would have disintegrated too quickly for the passengers to have known anything about it.
    The plane had been flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in eastern Ukraine July 17.

    Although investigators were unable to visit the crash site because of fighting in the area, their initial report pieced together photographic evidence of the wreckage as well as cockpit and air traffic control data.

    They said it pointed to “an in-flight break up” and added there was “no evidence of technical or human error”.

    The plane was hit while flying at 33,000 ft and debris was found over a wide area of eastern Ukrainian territory held by pro-Russian rebels.

    The plane had 298 people on board, of whom 196 were Dutch. So far, 262 of the victims have been identified.

  • New mass graves found in missing Mexican students case

    New mass graves found in missing Mexican students case

    IGUALA, MEXICO (TIP): Mexican authorities have found four new mass graves in the investigation into the disappearance of 43 students after suspects said some of the young men were buried there, officials said october 9.

    Four new suspects took investigators to the site of the pits, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Mexico City, but the number of bodies remains unknown, said attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam.

    “They say there are remains of students,” Murillo Karam said, possibly dashing hopes among parents who refuse to believe their sons have died.

    The four clandestine graves are “relatively” close to the location of another mass grave found last weekend in the southern state of Guerrero that contained 28 unidentified bodies, he said.

    Authorities say it will take at least two weeks to identify the bodies through DNA analysis.

    The case has outraged Mexicans, who held protests across the country Wednesday to demand the return of the students, in a nation that has lost tens of thousands of people to drug violence since 2006.

    Authorities say the students vanished after Iguala police officers working with the Guerreros Unidos gang shot at their buses in a night of violence on September 26 that left six people dead and 25 wound

    Surveillance cameras showed several students being taken away in patrol cars.

    Murillo Karam said there are several lines of investigation into the motive but that the city’s mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, his wife and the public security director are wanted for questioning.

    The mayor’s wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda Villa, is the sister of two late members of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, which founded the Guerreros Unidos.

    The mayor, his wife and public security director have apparently gone into hiding.

    Murillo Karam did not elaborate, but Mexican media, citing an intelligence services report, say Abarca’s wife asked police to confront the students because she feared they would interrupt a speech she was giving that night.

    The mayor then reportedly told the police chief to teach a lesson to the the students, who are from a teacher training college known as a bastion of protests.

    The students say they were in Iguala to raise funds, though they had commandeered the buses to return home, a common practice among the radical aspiring teachers.

    Guerrero chief prosecutor Inaky Blanco said authorities did not arrest Abarca before he disappeared last week because he has immunity as mayor, which has yet to be revoked.

    Abarca requested a 30-day leave of absence before vanishing a few days after the attacks.

    Blanco said Abarca faced state charges of negligence for preferring to stay at a party and go to bed instead of stopping the violence.
    The mayor “left the victims at the mercy of public security members,” Blanco said.

    Four more municipal police officers have been arrested on homicide charges in the case, in addition to 22 who were detained last week.

  • Bang Bang | Movie Review

    Bang Bang | Movie Review

    Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Danny Denzongpa Direction: Siddharth Anand
    Genre: Romance
    Duration: 2 hours 36 minutes

    Story: After 150 years, an Indian robs the Kohinoor diamond. And thus begins the cat-and-mouse game as the international mob and the Indian Secret Service (ISS) officials hunt him down.

    Review: Siddharth Anand’s Bang Bang makes more noise and little sense. This desi adaptation of the 2010 Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz action thriller, Knight And Day, has charm in abundance, primarily because of its effervescent lead pair — Rajveer/Jai ( Hrithik Roshan) and Harleen (Katrina Kaif). But it lacks coherence. Disbelief is writ large on the face, right at the start.

    Picture this – India’s most wanted, Omar Zafar (Danny Denzongpa), who is to be extradited to India, escapes from a maximum-security prison in Britain because his aide Hamid Gul (Jaaved Jafferi) blows up the place like it is a cardboard edifice. They also kill the honest ISS agent, Viren Nanda (Jimmy Sheirgill) in the process. Next, Zafar suggests that he can actually hold up the UK-India extradition treaty by getting an Indian to rob the Kohinoor. Really?

    Aimed at providing more style than substance, the film makes you comfortably numb in the first 20 minutes itself. So you may perhaps just raise an eyebrow as you watch Katrina, a bank receptionist from Shimla (with a liberal grandmother who tells her to go chase love), on a global escapade — London, Prague, Greece… in the company of a “psychopathic schizophrenic” jewel thief, Hrithik, after meeting him on one blind date.

    If you’re still looking to make sense, Hrithik has a back-story on why he attempted to steal the Kohinoor. Or why he chose guns over roses. Kaif, convinced of his good intentions, is happy to cling to him with gay abandon.

    Anand’s film has no grammar. But it compensates with breathtaking locales and stylishly choreographed stunts. It also works as a show reel for the bronzed Roshan with his six-pack abs and the enviable midriff of Kaif wearing a red polka-dotted bikini top. Their horseplay caters to an audience that is low on IQ and high on adrenalin!

    Full marks to the lead pair for not being overwhelmed by the commotion around them. Especially Hrithik, who knows the job at hand is silly, but never slips up.

  • NARGIS FAKHRI BEHIND HRITHIK ROSHAN’S BANG BANG DARE

    NARGIS FAKHRI BEHIND HRITHIK ROSHAN’S BANG BANG DARE

    Nargis Fakhri joins Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and other marketing geniuses’ league by coming up with the ultimate ‘Bang Bang Dare’ marketing idea. The only difference is that the actors promote their own films but Nargis did it for her friend Hrithik Roshan.

    The Bang Bang dare that has caught on like a rage on social networking websites, where Hrithik dares his B-town friends to do a daring act, was actually Nargis’ idea. Nargis, who is good friends with Hrithik, stimulated this idea in Hrithik’s mind and he started the Bang Bang dare campaign on Twitter. The honest man that he is, Hrithik has also given credit to Nargis for coming up with this amazing idea for his film’s promotion.

    While only big male stars are known for coming up with masterstroke marketing ideas, Nargis

  • Actors gossip more than actresses: Shraddha Kapoor

    Actors gossip more than actresses: Shraddha Kapoor

    Shraddha Kapoor has repeatedly been pitched against the likes of Alia Bhatt and Parineeti Chopra but looks like the actresses share a great bond.

    So, who between the two is the toughest competitor for Shraddha? “Actually we are a trio; our names are taken in the same breath. There is definitely healthy competition between us. Both, Alia and Parineeti are amazing actors and both are very different actors. The best part is that we are constantly working and have movies in hand, we are busy, so nothing to complain about,” says Shraddha.

    She, in fact, thinks that actresses hardly indulge in catfights and in lighter vein, even added how the scanner should be put on their male counterparts when told that the men in Bollywood are not heard complimenting each other the same way as the actresses. Shraddha immediately reacts, “Why do they say that girls gossip? Boys gossip more than girls. Just because there is a term coined catfights, the blame is put on the girls. In fact, boys are more chugli khors and they do it secretly. Actors gossip more than actresses, they are more curious than girls. The only difference is that the boys do it secretly,” she said.

  • ELIZABETH HURLEY SINGLE AGAIN

    ELIZABETH HURLEY SINGLE AGAIN

    Actress-model Elizabeth Hurley is single again after splitting from her businessman boyfriend over the summer of this year.
    The “Bedazzled” star reportedly enjoyed a six-month romance with former banker David Yarrow after parting ways with retired cricketer Shane Warne in 2013, but the relationship has now come to an end, reports contactmusic.com.

    Hurley confirmed the news in a post on Twitter saying: “I’ve been happily single since June; I am not dating any of my exes. You heard it from the horse’s mouth, loyal followers.”

  • LENA HEADEY MAKES NEWS

    LENA HEADEY MAKES NEWS

    LENA HEADEY’S NUDE SCENE COST ‘GAME OF THRONES’ PRODUCERS $50,000 PER DAY

    Game of Thrones producers reportedly shelled out 50,000dollars per day to film the nude scene on Lena Headey.
    The producers of war drama series hired more than 200 security guards to make sure that Headey’s controversial nude scene was kept secret, TMZ.com reported.

    Local shopkeepers were forced to shut down for a short amount of time and mobile phones were also banned from the set.

    The scene will sees Headey emerging naked from a church and having to walk through a town back to the King’s Landing castle.

  • Deliver Us From Evil | Movie Review

    Deliver Us From Evil | Movie Review

    Cast: Eric Bana, Édgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn, Sean Harris, Joel McHale
    Direction: Scott Derrickson
    Genre: Horror
    Duration: 1 hour 58 minutes

    Story: Two police officers from the Bronx, Sarchie (Bana) along with his partner Butler (McHale), investigate the latest in a series of gruesome incidents. Despite being witness to the worst that humanity has to offer in terms of crime, they realize that this particular case has some seriously sinister undertones.

    Review: It would take a lot to truly shock officer Sarchie, who has nerves of steel and would not think twice about putting his own life on the line when it comes to doing his duty as a cop. Sarchie and his equally adept partner Butler receive a call one night to investigate an incident at the Bronx Zoo.

    The case seems like something not too far removed from the kind of issues they usually handle on an almost day-to-day basis, but soon, more gruesome details come to light. A woman visiting the zoo suddenly and inexplicably kills her baby. When they question her, she mouths strange curses in Latin and sounds far beyond deranged.

    A rather unconventional whisky-swilling priest named Mendoza (Ramirez), who also looks like he has been to hell and back, meets Sarchie and tries to tell him the woman is demonically possessed. However, she is actually the victim of an individual who is literally a conduit to hell.

    Derrickson (who has also directed The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister) throws in pretty much everything you’d expect from this genre – an elaborate exorcism, mutilated corpses, sinister signs and so on. Sarchie’s wife Jen (Munn) might not have much screen time, but she portrays her role effectively.

    While it isn’t in the league of, say, Insidious or The Ring, Deliver Us From Evil packs in a mixed bag of thrills that is, at times, deeply disturbing by virtue of using the kind of horror tropes that are more psychological than gory.
    Rather than being a gore fest throughout, the film is more about an examination of the protagonist’s faith in God as well as how he deals with the guilt of past sins that he has not confessed.

  • KARVA CHAUTH

    KARVA CHAUTH

    the fast of Karwa Chauth is of particular importance to all Hindu married women in India. They believe that the festival ensures prosperity, longevity and well-being of their husbands. The origin of this festival was based on a very sweet and noble idea. Though this idea has lost its true sense as today the whole outlook of this festival has changed.

    In the ancient time, girls used to get married at a very early stage, and had to go and live with their in-laws in other villages. After marriage, if she faces any problem with her in-laws or her husband, she would have no one to talk to or seek support from. There used to be no telephones, buses and trains long ago. Her own parents and relatives would be quite far and unreachable. Thus the custom started that, at the time of marriage, when bride would reach her in-laws, she would befriend another woman there who would be her friend or sister for life. It would be like god-friends or god-sisters. Their friendship would be sanctified through a small Hindu ceremony right during the marriage.

    Once the bride and this woman had become god-friends or god-sisters, they would remain so all their lives and recognize the relation as such. They would also treat each other like real sisters.

    Later in life, if she faces any difficulty related to her husband or in-laws, she would be able to confidently talk or seek help from each other. Thus, Karwa Chauth was started to as a festival to celebrate this relationship between the once-brides and their god-friends (god-sisters). Fasting and praying for husband came later and is secondary. It was probably added, along with other mythical tales, to enhance the festival. The husband would always be associated with this festival, because the day of starting this holy friendship between two god-sisters was essentially the day of bride’s marriage to him. Thus, praying and fasting for him by his wife during a celebration of her relationship with the god-friend would be quite logical.

    Hence, the festival of Karwa Chauth was to renew and celebrate the relationship between god-friends (god-sisters). It had a tremendous social and cultural significance when world was not having the way to communicate and move around easily.

    Regional Significance
    Karwa Chauth festival has an extraordinary observance rate among married women in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. This is a significant day for married women as they keep fast for the long-life and well-being of of their husbands. The way of celebrating Karwa Chauth vary from each other on regional basis.

    Punjab : The festival of Karwa chauth is one of the most important festival for married women in Punjab. Few days before this auspicious festival, all the markets in Punjab gets flooded with various accessories and decorative items including bangles, beautiful sarees, embroidered suits, stalls of sweets and eatables. Number of artists from different cities like Agra, Jaipur, Delhi, etc gather here with their special mehndis to decorate hands of women. In some parts of Punjab, young damsels too keep the fast in the hope of winning a loving husband.

    KARVA CHAUTH1

    Celebrations
    The day of Karva Chauth is celebrated mostly amongst the entire North Indian community settled either in India and other parts of the world. The most important aspect of this day is that a dawn to dusk fast is undertaken by the North Indian ladies and seeing the moon they finally break the fast. The Karva Chauth fast is unique perhaps because nowhere in the world does a wife go without food or water just to pray for the longevity and well-being of her husband.

    In modern day, with all the trappings of commercialization attached, Karva Chauth, the big fasting day has turned into a full-fledged event. The event is growing bigger with each passing day. Karva Chauth celebrations promise to grow bigger with each passing year. The Halwais, the Mehendi and Churiwallis have traditionally been busy on this auspicious day. But joining the bandwagon in recent times are the beauty parlour owners, the event managers and the restaurant owners.

    Karva Chauth special eateries are gearing up for now. Cashing in on the popularity of
    ‘eating out’ most restaurants have special menus for this special day. No wonder almost every happening-eating joint around town is offering plenty of attractive options to choose from. Various clubs organize special events on this festive day with various stalls, bumper Tambola and even a dance competition. With so much feasting and fun added to it, fasting had never been so good before.

    Tradition of Fast
    In Hindu Dharam, the goal of life is Self-realization or the attainment of God and fasting has been a much sought after path to attain this. All Hindu fast have a deep spiritual and religious significance. According to Hindu scriptures, fasting helps create an attachment with the God by establishing a harmonious relationship between the body and the soul. This is thought to be imperative for the well being of a human being as it nourishes both his/her physical and spiritual demands.

    Karwa Chauth Fast
    ‘Karwa Chauth’ is a ritual of fasting observed by married Hindu women seeking the longlife, well-being and prosperity of their husbands. Married women keep a strict fast and do not take even a drop of water. It is the most important and difficult fast observed by married Hindu women. It begins before sunrise and ends only after offering prayers and worshiping the moon at night. No food or water can be taken after sunrise. The fast is broken once the moon is sighted and rituals of the day have been performed. At night when the moon appears, women break their fast after offering water to the moon.

    Importance Of Fasting
    Hindus believe it is not easy to unceasingly pursue the path of spirituality in one’s daily life. Therefore a worshiper must strive to impose restrains on to get the mind focused. And one form of restraint is fasting. However, fasting is not only a part of worship, but a great instrument for self-discipline too. It is a training of the mind and the body to endure and harden up against all hardships, to persevere under difficulties and not give up.

    Medicative Properties
    The ancient Indian medical system of Ayurveda sees the basic cause of many diseases as the accumulation of toxic materials in the digestive system. Regular cleansing of toxic materials keeps one healthy. By fasting, the digestive organs get rest and all body mechanisms are cleansed and corrected. A complete fast is good for heath, and the occasional intake of warm lemon juice during the period of fasting prevents the flatulence..

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