Maya joins Sonia in Forbes power list

Making her debut in the club of the 100 most powerful women in the world, Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati has joined Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a list compiled by US business magazine Forbes.

While Mrs Gandhi slipped from sixth rank in 2007 to 21st this year, Ms Mayawati has made her debut at 59th. The list also includes Indra Nooyi, the Indian-origin Chennai-born chief of global soft drink giant PepsiCo, at third position, up from fifth last year, and Indian biotechnology firm Biocon CEO Kiran Mazumdar Shaw at 99th.

The list is headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

About Mrs Gandhi, the magazine said the Italian born leader of India’s most powerful political party has by now assumed the role of elder stateswoman. “Although she remains firmly at the head of the country’s ruling party, a rising star, known by the single name Mayawati, is challenging Gandhi’s position as the country’s most powerful woman.”

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

10 Indian men die in Dubai fire

Ten Indian nationals perished in a fire in Dubai on Tuesday morning. All the 10 belonged to Andhra Pradesh’s Karimnagar district, sources at the Indian consulate-general in Dubai told this newspaper.

A foreign national also died after the fire broke out in a building near Naif Souk in Dubai’s Deira locality at about 5.30 in the morning. The 30-room building housed expatriate workers.

The Indians killed in the fire were identified as Gilli Bakkanna, Kuku Sanjeev, Talari Gangadhar, Devarajanna, Chinnayya Talari, Talari Sudharshan, Talari Raju, Gangaram (Pachnnarkuda), Gangaram and Gangadhar.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

India deal is main focus of United States policy

As India and the US work overtime to get a clean NSG waiver, the Bush administration said the Indo-US atomic deal was currently the “principal focus” of its nuclear policy and given a priority over a similar pact with Russia.

Asked whether developments in Georgia will affect the US-Russia civilian nuclear deal, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said that the present focus of America’s nuclear commerce policy was the India deal and not the one with Russia.

“Our principal focus right now has been on the India civil nuclear deal, having worked through the IAEA, now working through the NSG, and still trying to get into a position to make the appropriate presidential determinations in early September. So that’s our focus right now on the civil nuclear side,” Ms Rice told reporters on her way to Tel Aviv.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Devyani unites Ranas, Rajputs

After her own marriage to a scion of India’s aristocracy, Devyani Singh nee Rana, once known as the girl for whom Nepal’s Crown Prince Dipendra allegedly killed his entire family, is now playing matchmaker between India and Nepal.

Devyani, who hit the headlines earlier this year when she campaigned for her father Pashupati Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana in Nepal’s historic Constituent Assembly elections in April, is now unit ing the seniormost Rajput clan of India with the blue blooded Ranas of Nepal, who once ruled the Himalayan nation as hereditary premiers.

Preparations are on for one of the subcontinent’s most spectacular society weddings, where the groom’s procession will include an elephant, four horses and four camels. The groom, Virat Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, 27, is great-great grandson of Chandra Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepal’s longest-ruling Rana premier.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the epaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Indian behind greatest cyber heist in world?

A yet to be identified Indian hacker is being accused of plotting the greatest cyberheist in history. Scotland’s Sunday Herald newspaper has reported that he allegedly helped a criminal gang with Russian mafia links steal the identities of an estimated eight million people, in a hacking raid that could ultimately net more than £2.8 billion in illegal funds.

He is believed to have breached the IT defences of Britain’s Best Western hotel group’s online booking system. It is not clear, however, how his identity as an Indian became known.

The Best Western chain has more than 4,000 hotels in 80 countries. The hacking led to the personal details of every single customer who booked into one of Best Western’s 1,312 hotels in Europe since 2007 being accessed to fraudsters, the newspaper reported on Sunday.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

test

test

test

test

Pervez’s allies say he might quit soon

Political allies of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged on Wednesday that he could quit rather than face impeachment, as another provincial Assembly voted against him and speculation mounted that his resignation was imminent.

While Mr Musharraf has given no public sign that he plans to resign, political pressure is mounting on him.

Asked late on Wednesday whether he would stay in office to help the country, Mr Musharraf told a group of well-wishers, “God willing, I will try.” The President spoke at an official function to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day, which falls on Thursday. He appeared relaxed and confident.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit:
http://epaper.asianage.com/Asian/AAge/2008/08/14/index.shtm

Manoj sues Shah Rukh Khan, Farah over scenes

Veteran Actor Manoj Kumar on Tuesday filed two cases against actor Shah Rukh Khan, Gauri Khan and film maker Farah Khan for failing to delete scenes from the film Om Shanti Om that defamed him.

“We have filed a suit against Shah Rukh, Gauri and Farah before the Andheri metropolitan court under sections 420 (cheating), 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code,” said Mr Kumar’s lawyer Ashok Sarogi.

He also added that a defamation case had been filed before the sessions court at Dindoshi seeking Re 1 as a token for damage to Mr Kumar’s reputation, which cannot be accounted for in terms of money.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Gold : One in Billion

Abhinav Bindra won India’s first-ever individual Olympic gold medal when he claimed the men’s 10m air rifle shooting title in Beijing Monday.

Athens champion Zhu Qinan of China won silver and Henri Hakkinen of Finland took bronze. Bindra, 25, a businessman from Chandigarh, followed his world championship title two years ago to finally win a landmark gold medal for India.

In one of the most thrilling shooting finals in Olympic history, Bindra overcame a two-point deficit against Hakkinen and one point against Zhu after the qualification rounds to annexe the title.

The Indian trumped his rivals with the best finish of 104.5 in the 10-shot final as he went into the last shot level with Hakkinen on 689.7 points. While Bindra secured his best score of 10.8 in the deciding shot, Hakkinen managed only 9.7 to concede the silver to Zhu, whose last shot was 10.5.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Maya upsets brahmins, dalits rejoice

It has been more than 24 hours since the rally got over, but dalits in Uttar Pradesh have not stopped rejoicing.

Their apprehensions are over and their fears have been set to rest. Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati’s announcement on Saturday that her successor would be from the dalit community has scotched all speculation about the BSP being gradually taken over by upper castes, particularly brahmins.

“Dil ko bahut khushi hui ki dalit hi BSP to sambhalega. Ab koi caste aa jaye, humen koi dar nahin,” said Ram Sajhawan, a BSP worker from Jhansi. He and his co-workers were so “relieved and thrilled” with the BSP president’s announcement that they decided to extend their stay in the state capital by a day and visit dalit monuments like Parivartan Chowk and the still-under-renovation Ambedkar memorial.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Weight loss may affect bones

When people lose weight, they often lose some bone mass as well. Now a new study suggests that changes in bone metabolism may persist even after the weight loss stops.

In a study of obese adults who followed a very low calorie diet, researchers found that even after the dieters stopped shedding pounds and entered the “weight maintenance” phase, changes in their bone turnover remained.

Bone turnover, or “remodelling,” refers to the normal process by which the body constantly breaks down old bone and builds up new tissue to replace it. It’s known that even moderate weight loss can cause an imbalance in this process, leading to a dip in bone mass, but it has been unclear whether changes in bone turnover persist after a person’s weight stabilises.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com

Women may fly Indian Air Force fighters

The Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, said on Wednesday that there could come a time in future when women could fly fighter aircraft in the Indian Air Force. When asked by reporters whether women could ever be fighter pilots in the IAF in future, the IAF chief said, “It may happen in future, why not. The women in IAF are doing a good job.”. But the IAF chief added that there was no proposal as of now on the issue before the IAF. “No proposal is under consideration right now. We will have to give a lot of thought on it.”

Currently, women officers in the IAF can fly transport aircraft and helicopters. In the Indian Air Force, women are inducted in the short service commission in the Flying Wing (Transport aircraft and Helicopters), Technical wing, Administration department, logistics, accounts, education and meteorology branches.

Flying fighter aircraft would mean entry to a combatant role in the IAF. Significantly, a report submitted by the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) to the government in 2007 had recommended exclusion of women from combat roles in the Armed Forces on the grounds that “chances of physical contact with the enemy are high” in combat streams.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.asianage.com