Abroad

betty donelly's podcast

bettydonelly — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:09:52 -0500

hello india

if you are interested in music you might find that betty donelly has something to offer now you can listen in on her first ever podcast by surfing to the official betty donelly blog

you will find videos, a merch shop, tracks for sale and a lot of information on there as well as links to my other artist profiles scattered all over the web

enjoy.. and try googling for betty donelly or bettydonelly sometime :o)

betty donelly

Businessperson of 2007

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:09:22 -0600

Mark Hurd, CEO of world's largest technology company Hewlett-Packard, was on Thursday named as the "Businessperson of the Year" by a leading US magazine, beating 19 other corporate leaders including three Indians -- Lakshmi Mittal, Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata.

The 20 contenders for the title, short-listed by the BusinessWeek magazine, also included Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, media baron Rupert Murdoch and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Hurd does not chase public limelight, does not attend high-profile business meets like World Economic Forum in Davos, does not flaunt a personal flair or high-flying style, All his energy seems to be "trained completely on one and only one task: leading Hewlett-Packard," the magazine said.

"The low-key executive, who has quietly cleaned up a mighty mess at the venerable Silicon Valley bellwether, beat out some big names on our list of top managers," it added.

The winner was selected on the basis of responses from the readers as well as its editors, it said.

Husband announces divorce at shopping mall

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:01:47 -0600

An angry husband divorced his wife at a shopping mall in Saudi Arabia after a young man gave her his telephone number.

The husband said he saw his wife receive a piece of paper from a young man.

The husband demanded to see the paper, but the wife refused.

He then grabbed her purse and saw the paper with the man's number written on it, reported Alarabiya.net.

The man then approached a cashier at the mall, took the microphone and said: "To all those present and all the shoppers. Please listen to me. I want you to bear witness to what I say." He then said he was divorcing his wife.

The man then drove away from the mall, leaving his wife and children behind.

Fire breaks out in 12-story building in China

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:52:55 -0600

A major fire broke out in a 12-floor building and engulfed an adjacent hotel at downtown of Urumqi in northwest China, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties.

The blaze first broke out at Dehui International Plaza late last night, but after battling for 15 hours fire brigade gave up their effort to put out the fire this morning as the building might collapse, state media reported.

Lower floors of the building, where vendors' stalls were located were totally burnt while the blaze continued to rage in the upper portion, official Xinhua news agency said.

The Plaza housed the booths of more than 2,000 sellers of clothes, cosmetics, toys and various kinds of commodities from the basement up to its fourth floor. The fifth to 12th floors were used as offices, it said.

It was not known if anyone was injured or had died in the fire, Xinhua said.

Fire fighters had now turned their attention to put out the blaze in the adjacent 20-storeyed hotel, where the occupants had been safely evacuated, the report said.

Indian among two killed in Indiana state accident

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:51:20 -0600

Two female students, including an Indian, were killed when a van carrying seven persons tripped off and overturned along a snow-covered toll road in northeast Indiana State, police has said.

Sweety Mazumdar, 25, of Kolkata and Apsana Giri, 26 of Kathmandu were killed when the van carrying students of the Bowling Green State University in Ohio State crashed early Wednesday morning as they were returning from a new year trip to Chicago.

All other students were males and were either not injured or suffered minor injuries but Indiana State Police Cpl Derek Fisher could not say if the weather contributed to the crash.

The women, who were fatally injured, were ejected from the van as it overturned and rolled over several times. One of them was struck by another oncoming vehicle and the other was found underneath the van after emergency officials used winch to roll the van upright, Fire Department spokesman said.

The accident occurred around 12:20 hours. One of the students died on the spot and the other was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital in Fort Wayne, about 70 kilometres from the scene of accident.

University President Sidney Ribeau extended "deepest condolences" to the families of the students killed in the tragic accident.

IT professionals from Kerala forms global alliance, KITA

jimmy elias — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:48:01 -0600

Around 150 Indian-American Information Technology professionals from Kerala came together in New York last November to launch the Kerala Information Technology Alliance (KITA), a platform for IT professionals of Kerala origin worldwide, to help "accelerate the growth of Kerala." Speaking to reporters here today, George Abraham, Chief Technology Officer, United Nations Pension Fund, and one of the masterminds behind the initiative said the vision of KITA was to enable Kerala to become a premier global technology hub.

"This initiative is all about bringing together IT professionals of Kerala origin in the US and leverage their knowledge and skills to help Kerala achieve growth," he said.

Even though Kerala has the highest literacy rate,the state was lagging behind other southern states in attracting IT investment and also in setting up IT infrastructure, he said.

Abraham said on January 7 a briefing session will be held at nearby Kakkanad and people from government, business, academia and the general public will be invited to attend the session, he said.

He said KITA had identified the "gaps" which prevent the state from becoming a global technology hub at a macro level and has come up with a 12-point programme to address it.

Lee warns Indians worse is to follow

jimmy elias — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 07:38:24 -0600

Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee warned it may get worse for Indian batsmen in the remaining matches of the series with pitches being more helpful for fast bowlers.

After struggling on a subcontinental-type slow and low wicket in Melbourne, the visitors might find the Sydney track more difficult to bat on, Lee said.

"Sydney is going to have a bit more (life) in it, especially for the quicks," Lee told 'Herald Sun'.

"And then we have got Perth...Who knows what might happen over there.

"We were bowling on a pretty benign wicket in Melbourne, very low and slow and that doesn't really suit the quicks. But I thought we did a great job on that wicket. The ball ended up looking like a dog had a good go at it. Up here (in Sydney) should suit fast bowling a lot more." Lee said after the disciplined performance in the first Test, which the hosts won by a whopping margin of 337 runs, they needed to stick to their plans to maintain their stranglehold in the second match.

"We have to stay really focused and keep going through and executing the plans we have been focusing on," he said.

India hopes Ganguly will be fit for second match

jimmy elias — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 07:34:39 -0600

The Indian team management is hopeful in-form Sourav Ganguly, who is down with fever, will recover in time to play the second Test against Australia starting in Sydney on Wednesday.

Ganguly was one of the few batsmen to make decent contributions in both innings of the first Test, which the Aussies won by the huge margin of 337 runs.

The left-hander made 43 and 40 in the Boxing Day Test and provided some resistance to the rampaging Australian attack.

However, during the second innings, the sweltering heat of Melbourne took its toll on Ganguly, who was attended to by team physiotherapist John Gloster.

More than his scores, Ganguly's form must have encouraged the Indian think-tank which would be looking to bounce back after the debacle in Melbourne.

The visiting team is hopeful Ganguly would recover from his illness in time

US stocks open lower following Bhutto assassination

jimmy elias — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:52:31 -0600

Stocks fell in early trading Thursday after the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and after the U.S. government reported a weak increase in durable goods orders.

Bhutto's assassination raised the possibility of increasing political unrest abroad, always an unsettling prospect for investors. Oil, gold and bond prices rose following the news.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said orders for durable goods _ products expected to last at least three years _ rose by just 0.1 percent last month. Economists had been looking for a rise of 2.2 percent. Still, November saw the first rise in durable-goods orders in the last four months.

The notion that the U.S. economy is slowing was also unnerving for the market.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the number of workers seeking unemployment benefits rose slightly last week.

In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 54.87, or 0.40 percent, to 13,496.82.

Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5.19, or 0.35 percent, to 1,492.47, and Nasdaq composite index fell 7.70, or 0.28 percent, to 2,716.71.

Bond prices rose sharply as investors sought safety. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 4.21 percent from 4.29 percent late Wednesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Benazir Bhutto assassinated at rally

jimmy elias — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:34:25 -0600

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, aides said.

The death of the 54-year-old charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections into chaos and created fears of mass protests and violence across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.

The attacker struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, 8 miles south of Islamabad. She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up, said Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security adviser.

At least 20 others were killed in the attack.

Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery.

"At 6:16 p.m., she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital.

"The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred," Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said.

Bhutto's supporters at the hospital exploded in anger, smashing the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit. Others burst into tears. One man with a flag of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party tied around his head was beating his chest.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack. But some of Bhutto's supporters at the hospital began chanting, "Killer, Killer, Musharraf," referring to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Bhutto's main political opponent. A few began stoning cars outside.

"We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," Malik said.

Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and opposition leader, arrived at the hospital and sat silently next to Bhutto's body.

Hours earlier, four people were killed at a rally for Sharif when his supporters clashed with backers of Musharraf near Rawalpindi.

Bhutto's death will leave a void at the top of her party, the largest political group in the country, as it heads into the parliamentary elections. It also fueled fears that the crucial vote could descend into violence.

Pakistan is considered a vital U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists including the Taliban. Osama bin Laden and his inner circle are believed to be hiding in lawless northwest Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan.

In Washington, the State Department condemned the attack.

"It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy," deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

The United States has for months been encouraging Musharraf to reach an accommodation with the opposition, particularly Bhutto, who was seen as having a wide base of support in Pakistan. Her party had been widely expected to do well in next month's elections.

Educated at Harvard and Oxford universities, Bhutto served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996. Her father, who also served as prime minister, was executed in 1979 two years after his ouster in a military coup.

Bhutto had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile on Oct. 18. On the same day, she narrowly escaped injury when her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted in a suicide attack that killed more than 140 people.

At the scene of Thursday's bombing, an Associated Press reporter saw body parts and flesh scattered at the back gate of the Liaqat Bagh park, where Bhutto had spoken. He counted about 20 bodies, including police, and could see many other wounded people.

Party supporter Chaudry Mohammed Nazir said two gunshots rang out when Bhutto's vehicle pulled into the main street. Then there was a big blast next to her car.

Police cordoned off the street with white and red tape, and rescuers rushed to put victims in ambulances as people wailed nearby.

The clothing of some victims was shredded and people put party flags over their bodies. Police caps and shoes littered the asphalt.

Hundreds of riot police had manned security checkpoints around the venue. It was Bhutto's first public meeting in Rawalpindi since she came back to the country.

In November, Bhutto had also planned a rally in the city, but Musharraf forced her to cancel it, citing security fears.

In recent weeks, suicide bombers have repeatedly targeted security forces in Rawalpindi, where Musharraf stays and the Pakistan army has its headquarters.

By SADAQAT JAN and ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writers