ceylon: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

The Britisher in Long Ago India and Ceylon

I have been reading Charles Allen’s Plain Tales from the Raj which book I bought at the 2011 Galle Literary Festival and had it autographed by the author. He had two sessions at the GLF - on Emperor Ashoka and Kipling Sahib: India and the making of Rudyard Kipling both very interesting since Allen was born and lived in India until he moved to England for his education. He returned to Nepal as a Voluntary Service Overseas Officer and ever since has been in and out of India and its neighbouring countries, mostly trekking, the Himalayas included.

we might just be able to ride to safety on their shoulders.

Israel will show the way

Last week in fact was good all round for the Sri Lankan government. Fast on the heels of the resolution against Sri Lanka, came the announcement by Israel that they would not play ball with the UN Human Rights Council and allow any UN inspectors to come into their country to look into the question of settlements in the occupied areas. There were no less than five separate resolutions passed against Israel in the HRC at the last sessions on the following topics.

Meet the expat chefs who left their five-star jobs to set up own restaurants in India.
As the evening progressed, Toscano, an Italian restaurant in Bangalore's upmarket UB City, bustled with activity. Chef and co-owner Jean Michel Jasserand softly instructed his staff before settling down in a corner.

Chennai, March 30:
Tamil movie fans will soon get a chance to take a closer look at Veerapandiya Kattabomman - a 50-year-old super hit.
Following the “grand success” of Karnan, Raj Television Network Ltd has taken up this movie as its second project. This time, the company is planning to go a step further and release it in 3D format.

Former Soviet master spy Leonid Shebarshin, who had worked for many years in India and Pakistan, is believed to have killed himself in Moscow.
The body of General Shebarshin, who turned 77 a few days ago, was found in his flat in central Moscow on Friday. Police said he had apparently shot himself with his pistol.

LONDON: NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and his family continue to head the Asian Rich List-2012 despite their wealth coming down by 2 billion pounds at 13.5 billion pounds.
This is stated in the Asian Rich List, naming Britain's '101 Wealthiest Asians 2012' and brought out by EasternEye, a publication of the Asian Media & Marketing Group (AMG).

RAN-Rosuvastatin tablets are generic version of Astra Zeneca's Crestor tablets. and much cheaper

Ranbaxy labs gets Health Canada nod for cholesterol lowering drug

NEW DELHI: Ranbaxy Laboratories today said it has received approval from the Health Canada to manufacture and market its generic RAN-Rosuvastatin tablets used for lowering cholesterol in the Canadian market.
"Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc (RPCI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has received approval from Health Canada to manufacture and market RAN-Rosuvastatin tablets to the Canadian healthcare system," Ranbaxy Laboratories said in a statement.

Journey on luxurious trains are in vogue Anushree Basu-Bhalla Edition: March 4, 2012 BT

This video is almost like being on board the Trans Siberian Railway! This is a detailed overview of our train ride from Moscow to Irkutsk in May 2006. Background music by Blu Mar Ten , and his track Adrift on Deep Water(Good Looking Records). It also includes several pictures from Moscow, including Red Square, VDNKh, Metro, and many more.

Sanitation concerns of the govt and UN agencies overlook the need for covered drains and disposal Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi Apr 01, 2012, BS

The census found recently that about 70 per cent of the population in rural India defecates in the open. And, according to the report of the United Nations on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), India accounts for 60 per cent of the world population who defecate in the open.

According to UNICEF, many states in India would take as long as 90 years to achieve total sanitation — one of the MDGs that the world was supposed to meet by 2015.

The Empyrean, Bangalore - Walkthrough A Model Construction

The Empyrean is a truly integrated sub-urban residential township spread over 230 acres in Bangalore (India), surrounded by 212 acres of green reserve and water bodies in the vicinity. It has been designed by Aedas, the world's second largest architectural firm. The Empyrean is designed to provide all the comforts with a blend of modern architecture and rustic living. The vision of the Empyrean project is to recreate the Bangalore of Yore with romantic leafy streets and lots of green and open spaces.

India’s richest sporting body, The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), let slip the first shot

What about the masses?

Anjana Menon / New Delhi Mar 31, 2012, BS

It offered every opportunity to be the most publicly celebrated moment of triumph and pride for India. Millions sat glued to their TV sets, hundreds uttered silent prayers, scores tweeted and reams and reams of newspaper columns were devoted to the feat after it was done. Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th century has come and gone.

Larsen & Toubro, Tata Projects and Gammon India are among the 22 companies competing for a mega railway contract. Among the companies shortlisted, US companies have stakes in seven companies and French, Russian and Spanish ones have stakes in one each.

The world’s richest cricket league is finding the going tough in its fifth season. Advertisers are beginning to feel the Indian Premier League (IPL) may be too expensive a property.

With the start of the tournament just four days away, Multi Screen Media (which runs SET Max, the official broadcaster of the league) it still to sell its ad inventory unlike any of the previous seasons.

According to media buyers, only 50-60 per cent of the ad inventory has been sold until now as against 80-85 per cent around the same time in 2011. Around 10-15 per cent is kept for spot buys.

Honda T360
Year: 1963
At this time Honda was already a major manufacturer of scooters and motorcycles. The T360 was a small pickup with a top speed of just 100 km/h. (Photo: ????, Wikimedia)
msn.com

Cyclone hit Manik Farm- 2000 displaced

A mini cyclone that swept through northern part of Sri Lanka has displaced over two thousand war refugees in the Manik Farm camp.
According to Settikulam police, cyclone which began slowly with rain at about six a clock on Saturday evening lasted for an hour.

Mafia banker Vito Palazzolo 'held in Thailand'

An Italian banker convicted for having links to the mafia has been arrested in Thailand, authorities say.

Vito Palazzolo, 64, was given nine years in jail for laundering money for the Sicily-based Cosa Nostra.
He was implicated in the so-called Pizza Connection, a mafia operation that smuggled drugs into the US during the 1970s and early 1980s, and used pizza restaurants as a front.

Syrian troops will stay in residential areas of cities until "peace and security" prevail, the government says.

A foreign ministry spokesman made the announcement after the UN's peace mission to Syria called for troops to be withdrawn as a good faith gesture.

Geneva debacle: The realities behind the diplomatic rhetoric Shocking statements by ministers make matters worse for President

By Our Political Editor

If the debacle at Geneva last week was bad enough for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, some of the things some of his Ministers are saying in public are making matters worse for him.
Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva had already dropped a bombshell by making a public confession that he was responsible for breaking the legs of a media activist who had to leave the country thereafter. The Police said they would inquire. The problem being that these inquiries never end. President Rajapaksa was fuming at the Minister's utterance. What he told some friends this week that he would do to Mervyn Silva is unprintable.

First stop Prabhakaran's bunker

Returning to Mullaitivu, where the last stage of the war was fought, Kavan Ratnatunga finds well preserved LTTE sites that draw about 3,000 visitors each day from both communities

So geographically close, but politically so far. A whole generation had grown up unable to visit the North and parts of the Eastern province of Lanka, during the 26 years of civil war. It is therefore not surprising that the region which was out of bounds, holds a special interest for all Lankans.

Visions of conquest: The metal gate of the funeral parlour outside Prabhakaran’s bunker bearing the Eelam map

Many Sri Lankans watching live proceedings of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the fateful Thursday of March 22nd 2012 were puzzled by the composition of our representatives when the spotlight was on Sri Lanka in Geneva.

Businessman's son abducted .

Saturday, 31 March 2012 04:14

A gang which abducted the 22-year-old son of a millionaire in Vakarai is demanding Rs. 30 million to free him, police said.
The youth identified as Ananda Krisho had been abducted on Thursday in the Vakarai police division in the Batticaloa district.
He is the son of Nallathambi Thanihasalam who owns a fleet of buses and lorries.

JVP on a slippery slope Editorial Island.lk

March 30, 2012, 8:04 pm

The JVP's split is now permanent with its rebel group having formed a political party––the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP)––and sought its registration with the Elections Commissioner, as we reported yesterday. The inevitable has happened. This is a standard problem that an ideologically driven revolutionary outfit faces when it remains in mainstream politics for a long time with no prospects of a revolution; cadres become disillusioned and they vote with their feet.

NOTEBOOK OF A NOBODY
by Shanie

"Nobody bought a cabinet,
whatever you may hear,
and all of them were honest men,
and all were in the clear.
Nobody did a secret deal,
nobody was for sale,
nobody bent the rules at all,
and nobody went to jail.
And all of them were honest men,
as white as driven snow,
and all lived on a higher plane,
and shat on those below."
Roger Woddis (1917-1993)

By Izeth Hussain
We have to face up to the fact that the Sri Lankan Government suffered a serious set-back at Geneva. We can of course argue that adding the abstentions to the votes against the US Resolution shows that we lost only by one vote. That kind of statistical casuistry will take us nowhere. In fact the refusal to face up to ugly facts that motivates such casuistry could prove to be dangerous.

New Delhi, Mar 31: In a matter of utter shame to both the police force and the state of Karnataka, the Karnataka High Court upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order and quashed the appointment of Shankar Mahadev Bidari as Director-General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP).

Tigers ready to exploit London Olympics *Push for ‘international safety net’ for people living in N & E

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The LTTE is now citing the US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka, recently adopted in Geneva, to support a major propaganda campaign to coincide with the forthcoming London Olympics.
With various LTTE front organizations exploiting the Geneva resolution to promote separatist sentiments in Sri Lanka, the self-styled Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) has called ‘human rights lovers’ theworld over to use the London Olympics (July 27 to August 12) to undermine what it calls the genocidal Sri Lankan State.

Spicy Kerala Fry. Photo: R.M. Rajarathinam

Remnants of another era Vatapi

The historic significance and the architectural splendour of the Chalukyas' erstwhile capital Vatapi is spellbinding

‘Beware of Monkeys' cautions a rickety board. ‘Beware, about to walk into a time warp' would have been more appropriate, we feel, as we step — consciously onto the imposing hillock, and unwittingly into a forgotten past. We are at Badami, Vatapi of yore, the regal capital of the mighty Chalukyas now reduced to a sleepy little town in northern Karnataka.

The house in Islamabad where family members of Osama bin Laden are believed to be held.

Osama bin Laden spent nine years on the run in Pakistan after the September 11 attacks, and during that time he moved between five safe houses and fathered four children, at least two of whom were born in a government hospital, his youngest wife has told Pakistani investigators.

In the closely-watched case of Ghulam Nabi Fai (62), former Director of the Kashmiri American Council NGO, who pleaded guilty to allegations that he had failed to reveal his links to certain intelligence elements in Pakistan, was sentenced to two years in prison in a District Court in Eastern District of Virginia.

Lauren Tara LaCapra
(Reuters) - MasterCard Inc, Visa Inc and Discover Financial Services have been victims of a potential security breach, the latest in a string of incidents that have put the personal information of millions of credit cardholders at risk.
The companies -- the first, second and fourth largest global credit card processors, respectively -- said the issue stemmed from a third-party vendor and not their own internal systems.

Clouds on the Sri Lankan horizon for China By Peter Lee

China's relationship with the regime of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is rock solid. Chinese arms were instrumental in the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009 that brought their insurgency to an end after 27 bloody years. China is the largest provider of foreign aid and investment to the island.

And on March 22, when the United Nations' Human Rights Council (UNHRC) considered a resolution censuring Sri Lanka for shortcomings in its investigation of possible violations of international law during the war, and a deficit of credible post-conflict reconciliation initiatives, Beijing voted "no" - while India voted "yes".

Sri Lankan government ministers representing the left movement call for implementation of LLRC

Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 10:21 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Mar 30, Colombo: Three ministers in the Sri Lankan government representing the left movement in the country have called for the implementation of the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).
Leader of the Democratic Left Front, Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Secretary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Minister Prof. Tissa Vitharana and Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera have joined to form a Socialist People's Front.

Sri Lankan court told missing activists are not in government's custody

Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 12:42 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Mar 30, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government Friday told the Court of Appeal that two missing activists of the dissident group of Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) are not in government's custody.
The Court of Appeal has asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Army Commander to file objection by today in the case of the two missing activists Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan on whether the two activists, who went missing in Jaffna last December, were arrested by the police or military.

Sri Lanka's war-affected East to be connected to South through rail link

Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 12:22 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Mar 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Eastern Province will soon be linked with the country's Southern Province through a new rail line proposed by the government.
In a measure to improve the infrastructure of the conflict-affected East and the livelihood of the people in the region, the government has planned to construct a rail line from Embilipitiya in the Ratnapura district of the South to the Batticaloa in the East via Moneragala and Ampara.

The Sri Lankan government believes that Western powers are precluding a final post-LTTE settlement.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 30 (UPI) -- The Sri Lankan government says Western powers are precluding a final post-LTTE settlement.

Founded in May 1976 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist militant organization, began a violent campaign in 1983 for a Tamil independent state in northeastern Sri Lanka. The fighting lasted until May 2009 when the LTTE was defeated by the Sri Lankan military.
The Sri Lankan government maintains that a definitive post-conflict settlement is being stymied by Western support for the Tamil diaspora.

Sri Lankan parliament to hold special two-day debate on UNHRC resolution

Fri, Mar 30, 2012, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 30, Colombo: Party leaders of the Sri Lankan parliament have today decided to hold a special two day debate on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka.
Democratic National Alliance (DNA) parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake had requested the debate and other opposition parties have also supported the request.

Foreign secretary William Hague has warned of the facing the world if Iran acquires nuclear weapons. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images
Sam Jones
guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 March 2012

Occupying SL Army operates behind narcotics trade in Tamil country

Sri Lankan military intelligence is allegedly behind a systematic programme of narcotics trade in the North and East of Eezham Tamils homeland, aiming the Tamil students as the target group, reliable sources in Jaffna told TamilNet Friday. On Thursday, three narcotics traders, including the distributors from South, were arrested on Somasundaram Road near the District Secretariat of Jaffna, while they were distributing narcotics. Narcotics dealers sent from South engage in the trade involving former members of Tamil paramilitary groups, news sources further said.

Shirdi – World’ Biggest Solar Cooking for 100,000 - Shirdi Sai Baba

~~ HOW DOES THE PARABOLIC SOLAR STEAM COOKING SYSTEM WORK ~~

The Solar Steam cooking system installed at Shirdi has parabolic concentrators / dishes (called Scheffler dishes after its inventor)

installed on the terrace of Sai Prasad Building No.2.

A Parabolic type concentrating Solar Steam cooking system was commissioned at Shri Saibaba Sansthan, Shirdi on 24th May`2002.

NEW DELHI: Delhi's poshest hotels turned into plush fortresses when heads of BRICS nations and top executives of US investment bank Goldman Sachs arrived simultaneously in the city, raising a toast to India's growing economic might.

At the Leela Palace hotel, the venue for Goldman Sachs' board meeting, after its first stop Mumbai a day earlier, the Royal Club Lounge on the ninth floor, meeting room 'Maya' and the chairman's board room were all taken by the investment bank.

HPCL-Mittal Energy commissions 9-mt refinery at Bathinda ET

NEW DELHI: HPCL-Mittal Energy has commissioned its 9-mt refinery at Bathinda, raising hopes for more such joint ventures between state oil companies and the Lakshmi N Mittal group.

"The HPCL-Mittal joint venture has established that public-private partnership models can succeed," Lakshmi N Mittal said in a statement on Thursday.
HMEL is an equal JV between state-run Hindustan Petroleum and Mittal Energy Investment, Singapore, part of the LN Mittal group.

NEW DELHI: There seems to be nothing new in the latest TV ad of Thums Up-a pacy storyline, superbly executed daredevil stunts and a gripping climax. Yet it's new, with the cola brand dumping its longtime face Akshay Kumar in favour of Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu.
Welcome to the bold, new world of marketing where brands are increasingly roping in South Indian stars for pan-India advertisement, marking a U turn from their earlier strategy of using regional stars for region-specific campaigns.

Visit to Shangri-La Ajai Shukla / Mar 31, 2012, BS

Remote and mystical, Menchuka on the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh is as difficult to get to as a hidden paradise ought to be. Ajai Shukla visits, and finds in its medicinal traditions a promise for the future.
My first glimpse of Shangri-La blows away the fatigue. After eight gruelling hours of bumping along the mountain road from Along (itself a full day’s drive from the Assam plains), the Bolero rounds a corner and the thickly-forested gorge opens into a wide valley.

T E Narasimhan peers into this densely packed and thriving world
T E Narasimhan / Mar 31, 2012, BS

Triplicane is a colourful neighbourhood of conservative Chennai. Over 1 lakh people live in an area that measures around 5 sq km, another 50,000 to 70,000 float in and out of here every day. The place is congested, like the old quarters of any city, and is therefore noisy and chaotic, but lively nevertheless. There is no space between houses here.

Former journalist Abdul Rahman Siddiqi recalls pre-Partition Delhi Aditi Phadnis / Mar 31, 2012, BS

Abdul Rahman Siddiqi was an Indian and a Dilli-walla till he was 23. Then one October day in 1947, he became a Pakistani. “I am one of the last of a vanishing breed” he says. “We are not endangered yet, but vanishing fast.”

Nearly 90, Siddiqi was born in Delhi and has lived to tell the tale in his book, Smoke Without Fire: Portraits of Pre-Partition Delhi. His family was one of the wealthiest in Chandni Chowk, belonging to a community known as Punjabi Saudagar, the most well-to do in Delhi.

Sri Lanka rejects Indian proposal on UNHRC resolution Press Trust of India / Colombo Mar 30, 2012,

More than a week after the UN's top rights body censured it for alleged war crimes in the conflict with LTTE, Sri Lanka today said it had turned down a request by India and the US to amend the American-sponsored resolution against it at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

"We took a clear stand that we will not agree to this and we will express our opposition to it," Foreign Minister GL Peiris told Parliament.

CBI raids Vectra factories, chairman Ravi Rishi's residence, issues summons BS Reporter / New Delhi Mar 31, 2012

Meanwhile, BJP tells Antony to quit, even as Gen Singh says ‘rogue elements’ trying for schism between him and govt; asks for ‘uninformed comment’
After registering a case on the the complaint by General V K Singh, the army chief, of attempts to bribe him to push the purchase of Tatra trucks, the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted raids at various places in the country on Friday, beside summoning the head of the company in question.

Pazhamudir Nilayam’s best practices have changed the way fruits and vegetables are sold in Tamil Nadu Lalitha Sridhar

•Established in 1965
•Initial investment Rs 300
•Revenue Rs 130 cr
•Bet you didn’t know Pazhamudir Nilayam sell 120 tonnes of fruits and vegetables to 45,000 customers every day

***

In a blow to former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta in insider trading case, a US court has denied his bid to suppress wiretap evidence at his trial and also denied his motion to dismiss some criminal counts. In a ruling on various pre—trial motions, District Judge Jed Rakoff said secretly recorded telephone calls between Gupta and hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam can be played during his trial, scheduled to begin from May 21.

TESTIMONY OF A TRIUMPH: Visages of Manora Fort. Photo: M. Srinath

Olympia Shilpa Gerlad finds the India connect to Napolean Bonaparte's Waterloo at Manora
For the third time that evening I wished for a draught of some magical drink with shrinking powers, like the kind Alice found down a rabbit hole. The dark, knee-high tunnel I was peering down at a fort overlooking the Bay of Bengal, riddled with hidey-holes and lattice windows, looked all the more alluring in the hour before twilight.

Calculating leaders' calculated moves Island.lk

It is being argued in some quarters that India voted with the US against Sri Lanka in Geneva recently owing to the so-called coalition compulsions and pressure from Tamil Nadu. But, Lt. Gen (Retd) Prakash Menon, Military Advisor to the National Security Council Secretariat of India, is convinced otherwise. He has said that India's vote against Sri Lanka was a 'calculated' move in the national interest, according to The Hindu newspaper.

Ebert Silva, a pioneer in the field of travel and tourism in Sri Lanka passed away on the 28th of March at the age of 79. From the age of 19, Ebert Silva gave life to an important and glorious chapter of Sri Lanka’s transport, tourism and motoring history with the name being synonymous with the industry.

In this picture made available by the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano Pope Benedict XVI meets with Fidel Castro in Havana, Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP)

GL slams US over double standards on human rights ‘Rogues Gallery’:

By Shamindra Ferdinando and Ravi Ladduwahetty

Citing a simmering row between Israel and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) over the latter’s decision to investigate Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Sri Lankan government yesterday pointed out the inconsistency of the US position, with regard to the contentious issue of human rights.

Sri Lanka spends Rs. 425 billion for North East development

Thu, Mar 29, 2012, 09:04 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Mar 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka has spent r 425 billion rupees during the last five years for the reconstruction and development of the Northern and Eastern provinces, the government said today.
Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development Nihal Somaweera says the government had set aside 425 billion rupees for the reconstruction activities in the Northern and Eastern provinces from the year 2006 to 2011.

Headline Today's “I witnessed Genocide” wins journalism award in New Delhi

Indian television Headlines Today journalist Priyamvatha's investigative reports from Vanni last year titled "I Witnessed Genocide: Inside Sri Lanka's killing fields," has won the prestigious "Best Investigative Report" award at the 2012 News Television Award in New Delhi, media sources in Chennai said.

Sinhala land-grabbers trigger abduction of Tamil youth in Batticaloa

Armed men of allegedly Sri Lanka Army operated white-van squad Wednesday night have abducted a 20-year-old Tamil youth, Kishore Ramachandran, while the youth was at sleep at his house at mid-night. The abduction comes following threats to the Tamil family at Paalcheanai in Kathirave'li of Vaakarai region in Batticaloa district by Sinhalese to hand over their 8 acres of palm grove with more than 1,500 trees, owned by the family for more than 40 years.

If you are a true connoisseur of food and will endure anything for a good meal, Mavalli Tiffin Rooms is the place to be. One of the oldest and well known places for its mouthwatering South Indian breakfast and the multi course lunch, MTR has been the favourite restaurant for millions of Bangaloreans. Chandrika writes abouts this pride of Bangalore.

BANGALORE/KOLKATA: While some may consider a pitcher of water the perfect remedy after a Friday night of revelry, Bangalore-based The Biere Club would rather you have their Hangover breakfast on weekends.

Taslima Khan

Startup Village’- India’s first telecom incubator and one of the most ambitious projects to boost entrepreneurship so far - will come up at Kochi, Kerala in the second week of April this year. The incubator will be a big boost to startups with any business idea related to telecom, whether it is mobile value added services(VAS), Interactive Voice Response (IVRs) etc.

Zync Z990 brings Android 4.0 to affordable tablet space

Nidhi Singal

While we are still waiting for smartphones and tablets running on Android's latest version - IceCream Sandwich (ICS) - the Indian market is getting its share of affordable tablets running the latest operating system from Google. Zync Z990 is among the first tablets to have Android v4.0 onboard.

New York Yellow Cab

Whether it's a speedboat slicing through Venice's Canal Grande or the noisy rattle of a ride in a south-east Asian tuk tuk, these iconic modes of public transport are the essence of their cities.

The Reserve Bank on Thursday directed Muthoot Fincorp Ltd arm - Muthoot Estate Investments - not to accept any deposits from public in any manner.

When Ash, the master of ceremonies, asked Rajiv Bajaj, the Business Standard CEO of the Year, to say a few words after receiving the award from Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today, the man of the moment seized it with a quick repartee, saying he’d utter “more than a few words”.

By his own admission, Rajiv Bajaj was in all kinds of trouble in 2008 — three years after he took over as managing director and CEO of Bajaj Auto. The company had a string of failures with the XCD, Caliber and Wind. It hurt even more because the company had always prided itself on being a market leader.

Nokia is working with local content developers in China to develop applications like local directory services integrated with maps that may give Lumia phones an edge over rivals and justify a higher price

One a hard-boiled negotiator at ease with complicated legalese, and the other a French aesthete. What can possibly draw together two such completely bipolar individuals? But Rabindra Jhunjhunwala and Clement Derock are both deeply aware of the equity of goodwill that comes with one’s heritage, legacy and roots.

War crimes: India votes against Lanka

Lanka war crimes: UNHRC debates US resolution

War crimes: UNHRC adopts US resolution

Apple hit by China Foxconn factory report

Workers are seen inside a Foxconn factory in the township of Longhua in the southern Guangdong province, in this file picture taken May 26, 2010

Foxconn plants have been heavily criticised by rights groups over working conditions

Arab League backs Annan's Syria plan at Baghdad summit

Arab League leaders have called for the immediate implementation of a joint plan with the UN to end a year of violence in Syria.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has accepted the plan, state media report, but says "terrorism" must stop as well.
Earlier, Iraq's PM Nouri al-Maliki warned that arming either side in Syria would lead to a "proxy war".

The Battle of Battles – the glory of Gannoruwa

Exactly 374 years ago, on Palm Sunday, March 28, 1638, the historic Gannoruwa battle was fought between the Portuguese and the Sinhala forces under Rajasimha II and Prince Vijayapala

| by J. Sarath Edirisinghe

( March 29, 2012, Colombo) Justification for branding the Portuguese period of the island of Ceylon as the darkest and the gloomiest period for its native Sinhalese comes from the British historian Sir Emerson Tennent - “There is no page in European colonization more gloomy and repulsive than that which recounts the proceedings of the Portuguese in Ceylon” (An account of the Island of Ceylon, Vol.II, 1860).

India not anti-Lanka, it’s pro-reconciliation

| by Indranil Banerjie

An issue that agitates the country’s Tamil population is a national issue and has to be directly addressed in a democracy like India

( March 28, 2012, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) India’s decision to support a UN resolution on a war crimes probe in Sri Lanka appears to have dismayed a number of commentators and experts within India. It is being made out that New Delhi acted foolishly and would end up alienating Colombo, which would now fall into Beijing’s lap.

EDITORIAL: Geneva debacle – spin doctors and the blame gamers to the fore

( March 27, 2012, Colombo,) One of the fascinating features in Sri Lankan politics - particularly after Elections - is often both victor and vanquished come out with their theories of “victory” While the declared victor has little convincing to labour with, it is always interesting to hear the delusionary arguments of the losers. The March 22 Geneva debacle is no exception. The spin doctor was the first off the block virtually claiming “though the other side won by a mere single vote, we are really the winners”???

Sri Lanka vote has hurt India’s credibility

by G Parthasarathy
Wars and conflicts are almost inevitably bloody and marked by huge civilian casualties which the Americans describe as “collateral damage”.

( March 29, 2012, New Delhi) Estimates of the number of Iraqis killed after the American invasion of Iraq, avowedly in order to rid the country of nuclear weapons which never existed, vary from 66,081 (according to WikiLeaks cables) and 601,000 (according to an international study). In Afghanistan, the number of civilian deaths caused by US military actions is estimated to be between 9,415 and 29,007.

An interview with Gary Anandasangaree

March 28, 2012, Toronto) Mr. Gary Anandasangaree is Barrister and Solicitor, and is the Sri Lankan Monitor for Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada. He is also Legal Counsel for the Canadian Tamil Congress. Gary has participated in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions regularly from the special session on Sri Lanka in May 2009. Gary has been a panelist in many UNHRC side events hosted by prominent Human Rights organizations. In the recent 19th UNHRC session, Gary was a panelist for a Human Rights Watch (HRW) side event that took place on March 9th 2012 where he presented the Tamil Diaspora’s views.

RIM, the maker of BlackBerry devices has slashed the prices of the handsets by about 26%. This is a step taken by the company to occupy a larger share of the Indian smartphone market. Prior to this, the company dropped the price of the PlayBook tablet in December 2011.

Syria, Mar 29: Children in Syria are deliberately being attacked on the orders of President Bashar al-Assad, claimed the UN human rights chief.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

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