Dhoni's family receives threat letter, security upgraded

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's family has received an extortion letter, demanding Rs 50 lakh, from suspected local criminals following which police said today they have taken "all precautionary measures" and further tightened security.

Police said that the letter was sent to Dhoni's family by a person claiming to be a member of the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang but maintained "it is actually a letter that has originated locally from a colony which is very much inside Ranchi and not very far from where Dhoni lives".

Suspecting that the letter could be a job of "local criminals," Inspector General and Jharkhand Police spokesman SN Pradhan said, "the perceived threat from the underworld gangs is for the moment ruled out".

He, however, said that "we are taking all precautionary measures and I am sure it will be sorted out quickly".

Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Sampat Meena said, "We got information yesterday that they (Dhoni's family) received a letter by post demanding extortion money".

She told a press conference here that "after premilinary investigation we find that it is the handiwork of one Taslim, a local criminal facing extortion charges". Taslim has been asconding for a long time, she said.

Reports published in Hindi newspapers here have said that Dhoni's father Paan Singh had received the letter on December 29 from one Taslim who claimed that he was a member of Dawood's gang.

Meena said security has been tightened and personnel of Special Task Force have been deployed to guard Dhoni's residence at Mecon Colony here. Dhoni has been briefed about the security, she said.

Pradhan said, "it appears to be an act of mischief by local criminals. In that colony there are two rival groups that tend to trap and expose each other. So we believe this is some kind of mischief going on but we would not like to underplay it."

He said Dhoni enjoyed security cover on par with high "Z" category and that "it has been upgraded". Extra police forces have been deployed in and around his house, he said, adding that "when he moves there is plenty of security".

Meena said names of some people mentioned in the letter have criminal background and were facing charges under the arms act.

"Police have not yet found Taslim having any link with Dawood Ibrahim (as mentioned in the letter). A team has been set up under the leadership of an assistant suprintendent of police to investigate the matter further," she said.

Asked at what time yesterday police received information about the letter and whether the family had been reportedly asked to deliver the sum demanded at some shop, Meena said, "time is not of any importance and police are investigating the contents of the letter". Read More... 

Press Trust Of India

Source The HIndustan Times

Lashkar leader, Zarar Shah, confesses role in Mumbai attack: Report

NEW YORK: Top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zarar Shah captured in the crackdown on militants earlier this month in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir has confessed the group's involvement in terror attacks in Mumbai, a media report said on Wednesday. 

Shah has also implicated other LeT members, and had broadly confirmed the confession made by the sole captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab to Indian investigators -- that the 10 assailants trained in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and then went by boat from Karachi to Mumbai, the Wall Street Journal reported quoting a senior Pakistani security official. 

Pakistani security officials were quoted as saying that a top Lashkar commander, Zarar Shah, has admitted a role in the Mumbai attack during interrogation. 

The paper said Pakistan's own investigation of the terror attacks in Mumbai have begun to show substantive links between the Lashkar and 10 gunmen who took part in the Mumbai mission. 

The paper quoted a person familiar with investigation as saying that Shah also admitted that the attackers spent at least a few weeks in Karachi, training in urban combat to hone skills they would use in their assault. 

"He is singing," the security official said of Shah. The admission, the official told the paper, is backed by US intercepts of a phone call between Shah and one of the attackers at the Taj hotel, the site of a 60-hour siege. 

The disclosure, it said, could add new international pressure on Pakistan to accept that the attacks, which left over 180 dead in Mumbai, originated within its borders and to prosecute or extradite the suspects. 

A second person familiar with the investigation was quoted by the Journal as saying that Shah told Pakistani interrogators that he was one of the key planners of the operation, and that he spoke with the attackers during the siege to give them advice and keep them focused. 

Shah, the paper said, was picked up along with fellow Lashkar commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi during the military camp raids in PoK. 

The probe, the Journal said, also is stress-testing an uncomfortable shift under way at Pakistan's spy agency ISI and the government since the election of civilian leadership replacing the military-led regime earlier this year. 

Military and intelligence officials, the report says, acknowledge they have long seen India as their primary enemy and Islamist extremists such as Lashkar as allies. 

But now the ISI is in the midst of being revamped, and its ranks purged of those seen as too soft on Islamic militants. 

That revamp and the Mumbai attacks are in turn putting pressure on the civilian leadership, which risks a backlash among the population -- and among elements of ISI and the military -- if it is too accommodating to India. 

"The ISI can make or break any regime in Pakistan," retired Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, a former army chief, was quoted as saying. "Don't fight the ISI." Read More...

Source The Times of India

Hollywood tie-ups galore for Bollywood in 2008 (Yearender 17)

New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) The over $2 billion Indian film industry finally managed to lure Hollywood biggies like Warner Bros and Walt Disney to invest in it in 2008. What's more, some homegrown production majors also managed to penetrate Western projects.
Among notable deals were Yash Raj Films collaborating with Walt Disney, Ramesh Sippy with Warner Bros for the next Akshay Kumar-starrer and Reliance BIG Entertainment with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG to produce 36 films.
'People across the world are looking forward to Indian films. They are keen to watch Indian cinema. Our films are appreciated by both critics and audiences worldwide and for that good collaborations with good content will definitely work wonders in the future,' Girish Johar, associate vice-president of UTV Motion Pictures, told IANS.
In 2007, Sony Pictures Entertainment-owned Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures was the first Hollywood studio to collaborate with an Indian production house. They co-produced 'Saawariya' with Sanjay Leela Bhansali Films.
Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'White Nights', 'Saawariya', which introduced Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, was a box office disaster, but it did not dissuade other Hollywood production majors from investing in the Indian film market.
Following Sony, Hollywood studio Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures tied up with Raghav Bahl's TV 18 group and created a movie investment fund in early 2008.
Joining the league was Walt Disney Co. that invested in the Rs.13 billion ($324 million) Indian animation segment by inking a joint venture with Yash Raj Films (YRF).
Their first co-production 'Roadside Romeo' tanked at the box office, but Hollywood production house will still come out with at least one animated film every year with voice-overs from Bollywood actors.
Another mega Hollywood giant to enter the Hindi film industry was Warner Bros. It ventured as distributors with the dud 'Saas, Bahu Aur Sensex' and is now co-producing Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Chandni Chowk to China' (2009) with Ramesh and Rohan Sippy.
Warner Bros also signed a three-movie deal with People Tree Films and a one film tie-up with Tandav Films, which produced 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'. The production house has also brought in internationally acclaimed Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur to direct a $200-million Hollywood fantasy-epic 'Larklight'.
While the Hollywood studios' production ventures bombed at the Indian box office, India's UTV Motion Pictures, which collaborated with 20th Century Fox to co-produce M. Knight Shyamalan's 'The Happening', raked in $31.5 million at the US box office in the opening weekend. Read More...

© Copyright 2008 Indo Asian News Service.

Source AOL News

In any war, India's conventional superiority will prevail

The Pakistan government has failed to respond satisfactorily to India's demands to convincingly end terrorism emanating from its soil and to hand over terrorist leaders and fugitives from Indian justice. Though both governments have toned down the political rhetoric and war clouds are no longer hovering on the horizon, the palpable anger of the people after the terror attacks on Mumbai has not been assuaged and a future conflict with Pakistan remains a possibility.
Most analysts and commentators know that war is not a good option - it will add to the complexity of the challenge of cross-border terrorism without in any way helping to resolve it. Yet, there is widespread agreement that limited military measures and covert intelligence operations are necessary to raise the cost for the Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to wage a proxy war against India through terrorism. Unless some punishment is inflicted on the real perpetrators, they will not be persuaded to terminate their low risk-high payoff strategy to destabilise and weaken India by 'bleeding it through a thousand cuts'

The military measures that are actually adopted have to be carefully calibrated to ensure that escalation can be controlled short of all-out war. These include precision strikes by artillery, rocket and missile forces and air-to-ground strikes by fighter aircraft and attack helicopters against purely military targets in Pakistan-administered Kashmir so as to inflict punishment on the Pakistan Army, ISI and the leadership of the terrorist organisations acting against India. Special Forces raids will also be viable under certain circumstances. In case conventional conflict does break out, the endeavour should be to limit the fighting to the Line of Control in Kashmir so as to avoid risking escalation to nuclear levels.
There is, of course, some risk of conventional conflict spilling over from Kashmir to the plains. Though the Indian Army and Air Force still enjoy an edge over their Pakistani counterparts despite the slow pace of modernisation and numerous operational deficiencies, Pakistan may choose to escalate the conflict for political reasons. The Pakistani armed forces have received considerable aid from the United States to fight the so-called global war on terror but are in no shape to successfully fight a war with India because of their large-scale commitment in the NWFP, FATA and Swat Valley and because of the recent battering that they have received at the hands of militant groups like the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
If conventional conflict does spill over to the plains, India's army and air force will plan to take the fight into enemy territory through their new concept of joint air-land offensive operations. This has been tested in a series of annual exercises that have included Poorna Vijay (2001), Vijay Chakra, Divya Astra, Vajra Shakti (May 2005), Desert Strike (November 2005), Sanghe Shakti (May 2006) and Dakshin Shakti-Brazen Chariots (March 2008). All of these exercises were aimed at concentrating and coordinating the firepower of all available assets and fine-tuning army-air force joint operations in a strategic setting premised on conventional operations in a nuclear environment. Read More...

Indo Asian News Service

Source AOL News

Kidnapped son of Ghaziabad industrialist returns

GHAZIABAD: The 8-year-old son of a Ghaziabad-based industrialist, Mukul Jain, kidnapped in a Maruti car at about 7.55 pm on Friday evening returned
mysteriously to his Rajinder Nagar home at 11.30 pm on Saturday. While the family claimed they had not paid any ransom, police officials were skeptical about the claimed details of the boy's return. Mukul, a class III student, said, "The kidnappers said they had released me because they kidnapped me by mistake. They wanted to kidnap someone else.'' He added, "They dropped me at East Delhi Mall in Kaushambi at about 9.30 in the night.'' However, he was not clear about how he reached his home 10 kms away. While initially he said the police had brought him home, he later claimed his parents had arrived at the mall with the police. Meanwhile, Ghaziabad district police chief, L Ravi Kumar, said, "Obviously, we are not being given the complete story. We think this is a case of kidnapping by a business partner of the boy's father Abhay Jain over some dispute.'' Meanwhile, Mukul told reporters the kidnappers, who whisked him away from just outside his house, drove him in the car for about two hours. He said, "They talked about going to Faridabad. I do not know if they went there. But I was taken to a computer laboratory.'' Read More...
By Lalit Kumar, TNN

Source The Times Of India

Minor girl attempts suicide

NEW DELHI: Fed up with coping with one personal tragedy after another, a 17-year-old girl attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge into the Yamuna
near Nizamuddin on Sunday. According to the police, the victim had faced numerous setbacks since childhood. "When the girl was around five-year-old, her father left her and her mother to marry her aunt. A few years later, her mother died in a kitchen fire and the girl was sent to stay with her father and aunt. The aunt too deserted her years later by saying that she couldn't handle the burden of a child. And when the girl turned 15, her father married her to a minor in Mathura,''said a police officer. "Six months ago, the girl ended her marriage due to constant friction with her husband. She then had to stay with her father who is a inivitation cards dealer in Chawri Bazaar. But her father kept chiding her because of her luck. Unable to bear any more, she attempted suicide but was saved by a fisherman,'' added the officer. Although a case of attempt to suicide against the girl has been registered, no case against her father has been lodged. The girl has been sent to Nirmal Chaya organization, said the police.

By Medha Chaturvedi, TNN
Source The Times Of India

Moderate earthquake jolts Pakistan

An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale jolted most parts of northwestern Pakistan on Monday morning, a seismological centre said.
The moderate earthquake also shook Pakistan's capital Islamabad, but there was no immediate report on casualties.
A seismological official told local Dawn TV channel that the epicentre of the earthquake was in the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan. Read More...

Indo-Asian News Service

Sorcue The Hindustan Times

Omar Abdullah set to be J&K chief minister

NEW DELHI: National Conference (NC) chief Omar Abdullah is likely to be the next chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir. While earlier reports
indicated Farooq Abdullah was likely to be the party’s choice for CM, in an apparent U-turn, Farooq has now proposed his son’s name as the NC candidate for chief minister. Meanwhile, Congress is meeting today to decide whether it will support the NC. Sources say the Congress, which was in coalition with PDP before separating on a bitter note, does appear inclined to support NC. However, it may be required to handle those in the state unit who would like to see whether the Abdullahs could be pushed to support a Congressman as chief minister as the price for keeping their chief rival, the PDP, at bay. Failing that, the state unit may ask the central leadership to insist on the post of the deputy chief minister. The terms of trade, however, are yet to be finalised. NC emerged as the single largest party in the J&K polls overtaking the separatist-backed PDP in an election that saw a strong turnout of 60.5% in the face of a Pakistan-sponsored call for boycott, strengthening the credibility of India's democratic process. On Sunday, Omar, widely speculated to take over the reins from his father, confirmed the party's plan to approach Congress for support even before the counting was over. "Yes, we will approach the Congress which is a like-minded party," he said. The leadership, which reviewed the results, discussed the options at a meeting of the party's core group, will take the final call after holding discussions with representatives of the state unit. NC, with 28, and Congress with 17 will have the majority in the 87-strong House. NC survived a huge drop in vote share in both Valley and Jammu to finish ahead of PDP which - backed by proxy support from the separatists and the loyalty of its strongholds in southern part of the Valley - won 21 seats. Just like its prospective partner, Congress saw a major erosion in its vote share. Read More...

Source The Times of India

Dense fog engulfs Delhi, hits flight, train schedules

A thick blanket of fog engulfed the national capital and surrounding areas on Monday, reducing visibility to below 50 metres and disrupting flight and train schedules. Commuters had a tough time driving to work. Meteorological officials said foggy conditions would continue for three to four days.
“The capital was covered by a thick fog early Monday. Visibility fell to just 50 metres at 7 am and is likely to remain below the required 1,500 metres till noon,” an official at the Safdarjung meteorological office said.
However, the thick fog coupled with high humidity increased the minimum temperature to 8.4 degree Celsius and maximum to 25.5 degree Celsius.
At least 10 international flights and 24 domestic flights were delayed while two domestic flights were cancelled owing to the fog cover, said an official at the capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport.
“Two domestic flights were cancelled and several were delayed as the visibility at airport around 8.30 a.m. was 100 metres, which is much below the minimum required 750 metres,” the official said.
Many inbound trains from the northeast, Punjab and Jammu have been running several hours behind schedule. Read More...

Indo-Asian News Service

Soruce The Hindustan Times

New agency should handle VIP security: NSG chief

All VIP protection duties should be entrusted to a new agency that should develop special expertise for the job, says National Security Guard (NSG) chief J K Dutt.
"VIP protection duties should be handed over to a unified agency or a new agency can be created on a par with the Central Industrial Security Force (constituted for the protection of public sector units and installations)," Dutt told IANS.
"The unified agency or the new agency can then develop special expertise in protecting the VIPs. It would be great in the larger interest of the VIPs as well."
The NSG director general said it is up to the central government to decide whether the time has come to review VIP security. "If economics allow them to set up such agency, then they should go ahead with it."
The demand comes in the wake of a public outcry over the government spending billions in VIP security even as the public was left defenceless from terror attacks. There has also been a lot of criticism of misuse of NSG commandos for bodyguard duty of politicians and other protected persons.
The NSG, which was set up in 1984 for anti hijack and anti terror operations, has two wings - the Special Action Group (SAG) the Special Rangers Group (SRG), comprising select men from the Indo Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and other paramilitary forces.
More than half of SRG personnel are deployed for VIP security.
The force came into international spotlight when it stormed the sites that were attacked by terrorists in Mumbai last month. Nine of the 10 terrorists were gunned down by the NSG commandos.
The elite Black Cat commandos rescued hundreds of hostages in an operation that lasted nearly 60 hours. A total of 174 people, including 26 foreigners, were killed in the most audacious terror attack on the country, which lasted from Nov 26 to 29.
There are around 400 guarded VIPs in the national capital alone. Around 15,000 Delhi Police personnel out of its strength of 60,000 guard the VIPs, who include ministers, politicians, bureaucrats, judges, religious leaders, lawyers and a few journalists.
This is in addition to the Special Protection Group (SPG) that is exclusively meant for providing security to the prime minister, former prime ministers and members of the Gandhi family. Over 45,000 policemen guard over 13,000 VIPs across the country.

Sahil Makkar, Indo-Asian News Service

Read More...

Source The Hindustan Times

Pak claims to arrest 'Indian spy' for Lahore blast

Intelligence agencies late on Wednesday arrested "an Indian secret agent and two others who were allegedly involved" in a bomb blast in Lahore on Wednesday morning, a media report said.
The man, who was arrested late on Wednesday, "was identified as Satish Anand Shukla, a resident of Indian city Kolkata," Geo TV reported quoting the police. "While confessing his hand in the blast, he also disclosed about his other three associates hiding somewhere in Pakistan."
"The police have recovered three fake national identity cards, three letters and other explosive material and devices from his possession," according to the report.
The three were arrested by tracing and tapping Sharma's telephone calls, the report said.
"Police sources said that the Indian held terrorist (sic) was a former employee of Indian High Commission in London and was currently living in Pakistan in disguise of Muneer," according to the report.Read More...

Source Hindustan Times

Indo-Asian News Service

Pak to India: Don't blame us for your failures

ISLAMABAD: Ruling out the possibility of a war with India in the wake of heightened tensions, Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday
alleged the Indian government was trying to find a "scapegoat" to cover up for the intelligence failure behind the Mumbai terror attacks. "My assessment is that there will not be a war," he told reporters in Lahore. However, he said the government and armed forces of Pakistan were prepared for all eventualities in the face of mounting tensions between the two countries. "We are a responsible nation and we are assessing the situation. The armed forces of Pakistan are assessing the situation but I do not think there will be a war," he said. "If they (India) try to indulge in any adventure of this kind, the people and institutions of Pakistan are united." Gilani said there were indications that there was "great public pressure on the Indian government" in the wake of the Mumbai attacks. "There was an intelligence failure and they want to make someone the scapegoat," he claimed. "We want good relations with all countries, we don't want a war with anyone," he said. India has blamed Pakistan-based elements, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist group, for the Mumbai attacks. It has asked Pakistan to take action against these elements.

Read More..

Source The Times Of India

PM led N-Command meeting on Saturday

NEW DELHI: The top-level security meeting held by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last Saturday was actually a meeting of Nuclear Command Authority
(NCA). The meeting, kept under wraps so as not to fuel the current war hysteria between India and Pakistan, coincided with the first strong sign of Islamabad backtracking on its promise to crack down on the masterminds of 26/11. Sources, however, denied the NCA meeting on December 20 had anything to do with the current stand-off with Pakistan in wake of the Mumbai terror strikes. They, in fact, stressed the meeting's "only intention'' was "to take decisions on the further consolidation of India's nuclear deterrence''. The UPA government this week has tried to play down apprehensions of an imminent military conflagration, with the PM making it clear on Tuesday that "nobody wanted war''. Cautioning against reading much into what they called "a routine meeting'', the sources pointed to the "no-first-use'' policy that underpins India's nuclear doctrine. "Nuclear weapons are not for war-fighting or even threatening anybody. Any talk of them coming into play is totally absurd. We have a very clear self-declared no-first use policy,'' said a source. Pakistan, in contrast, has no such policy. And when President Asif Ali Zardari indicated a willingness to take a turn away from it recently, he was publicly snubbed by the military leadership who call the shots across the border. Unlike India, where the NCA is controlled by the civilian leadership, the finger on the nuclear button in Pakistan is that of its Army chief General Pervez Kayani. For the NCA meeting to have skipped a discussion on the tension building up in wake of Pakistan's belligerent refusal to keep its promise to act against terror groups is improbable. In fact, as reported by TOI on Sunday, the "conventional'' operational preparedness of the armed forces to tackle any eventuality did figure in the meeting. Since then, Pakistan has shown aggressive signs of cranking up its war machinery, even as Indian forces maintain a high state of operational readiness, with armoured columns, warships and fighters ready to swing into action "in the shortest possible time'' if required.

Rajat Pandit, TNN

Read More...

Source Times Of India

Links to Download Hindi Songs in MP3 Format

When it comes to getting at a website where some virus-free songs can be downloaded without having a hassle of sweating through search engines, it gets a hard nut to crack. Here my effort is to bring the links together to make this a bit easier for you. Just follow the links below and enjoy the gateway to your favourite songs....

1.Apunkabollywood
2.Songs.pk
3.Funatoz
4.Mp3hungama
5.Cooltoad

I will appreciate any suggestions or comments from you so that I may work on them for you.

Some Useful Links to Download Free Wallpaper

Oops! Want to have some nice wallpapers to make your desktop spicy and cool, but wondering which site to browse through to get them? Here are some links for you, which will indeed be quite helpful for you...
1.Aol.in
2.Santabanta.com
3.Bollywoodhungama.com

4.Bollyvista.com
5.Bollywoodpremiere.com
6.Moviewallpaper.net
7.Celebritywonder.com

Three Pak men on suicide mission held in Jammu

NEW DELHI: In what may further belie Islamabad’s claims that it was not abetting terror, three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists hailing from Pakistan,
including an Army personnel, were arrested by the Jammu & Kashmir police on Tuesday for planning a suicide attack in Jammu. “The three terrorists of the JeM travelled from Karachi to Dhaka, and then crossed over to Malda before boarding a train from Kolkata. They reached Jammu on December 20 and, based on specific information, were arrested from Samrat Hotel in Gumat area of Jammu during a joint raid by special operations group (SOG) of the J&K police and CRPF on Tuesday,” state DGP Kuldeep Khoda announced at a press conference. “The three Jaish men were on a fidayeen mission, with specific instructions to drive an explosives-laden truck into a specific target in Jammu or carry out Mumbai-like strikes,” he disclosed. “We had received some strong inputs that terrorists guided from across the border were being asked to launch action in the state in the midst of assembly elections...,” he added. With initial investigations putting the total number of terrorists in the group at seven, a hunt is still on to nab the remaining four accomplices. “One of the three arrested has been identified as Ghulam Farid alias Gulshan Kumar, a sepoy in 10 Azad Kashmir regiment of Pakistan Army. His service number is 4319184,” Mr Khoda disclosed. The involvement of an Army personnel in Jaish activities blows the lid off the nexus between terrorists and the Pakistan military. The neighbour’s Army has for long suspected to have a hold on the terror outfits based in Pakistan, with its senior officers lending training and other skills to the jihadis. The other two terrorists have been identified as Mohammad Abdullah, belonging to Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province, and Mohammad Imran, who hails from Dera Nawab in Bahawalpur. The remaining four of what was originally a group of seven terrorists are suspected to have sneaked into the Valley. “We are on the lookout for them,” Mr Khoda told journalists.

Read More...

Source Economic Times

Christmas messages from far away

On Christmas Day, most of us pick up the phone and give our friends and family a seasonal greeting.
But for people in remote locations, sending a festive message is not always an easy thing to do.
Twenty years ago, the only options were a crackly long distance call or a letter sent six weeks early.
Today, advances in technology mean that even if you are in the middle of the ocean, or half way up a glacier, there is always a way to send a message home.
So rather than making a good excuse as to why this year's Christmas card did not arrive on time, here are some of the technological solutions on offer:

E-MAIL: For many, this is the cheapest and easiest choice. Electronic mail covers the entire spectrum, from basic text message, through to sound and movie files.
As long as you have got an internet connection and a means of getting online, then an electronic season's greeting can be sent with just a few clicks of a button.

SMS / TEXT MESSAGE: Short Message Service's - or SMS's - are almost as versatile as e-mails, enabling users to send photos and short video clips, as well as traditional text messages.
The popularity of the service has skyrocketed in recent years. According to the Mobile Data Association, more than 1.4 billion texts were sent in the UK every week in 2008, which is more than the entire number of texts sent in 1999.
According to data from the Mobile Data Association, from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day last year, 6,466,506 video and picture messages were sent.

VOIP: Internet telephony aka VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol to give it its full name) is a way of transmitting voice communications over the web.
Although the first communication of someone's voice over the internet happened in the early 1970s, it wasn't until the late 1990s - when internet speeds rose from an average of 300 bits per second (bps) to 56 kilobits per second (kbps) - that it became a viable proposition.
Today, with a typical internet connection typically running at 3,000 kbps, you can now not only send speech over the net, you can send video too.
What's more, you can often use your VOIP package to dial into a public switched telephone network (PSTN), meaning you can make a call anywhere there is an internet connection, with only a minimal charge made by an Internet Telephony Service Provider.
However, unlike PSTN networks, quality can often be hit and miss and due to frequent distortion and delay, using VOIP to send a fax is very difficult.
SMS is available anywhere there is a regular cellular network, although unlike e-mail, users have to pay for every message sent.

IM: Instant Messaging is a way of sending text messages (and in some cases, images) in real time across the internet.
Chat - or IMing - allows users to have a conversation between two or more people, or to send pending messages to a user, who will then get the message when they log in. Think of it as hybrid of e-mail and SMS in real time.

BLOGS & SOCIAL NETWORKS: For some, constant or regular access to the internet is impossible. One solution is either writing a blog or sending a electronic greeting through a social network site, such as MySpace or Facebook.
It does mean you can send a global message to everyone you know, although they often lack that personal touch.

Read More...

Source BBC.co.uk

Obama Report Outlines Talks on Senate Seat

HONOLULU — In the days after Barack Obama’s election as president, Rahm Emanuel, a top adviser, suggested to Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois that Mr. Obama’s Senate seat should be filled by Valerie Jarrett, a confidante of Mr. Obama.

In that same week, as word of her potential interest in the Senate seat spread throughout the Chicago political world, Ms. Jarrett spoke with a labor union official in Illinois who said he had spoken to the governor about the possibility of appointing her to the seat. During that conversation, the union leader mentioned that Mr. Blagojevich had his eye on a possible cabinet position in the Obama administration.
The contact was among the findings of an internal report released Tuesday, compiled by lawyers for the president-elect. The report concluded that Mr. Emanuel had as many as six conversations with the governor’s office about the Senate vacancy, but that Mr. Obama had none, and that neither Mr. Emanuel, Ms. Jarrett, nor any other Obama associates had any talks about a deal in which Mr. Blagojevich would benefit from appointing someone to the Senate seat.
Mr. Blagojevich was charged by federal prosecutors in Chicago this month on a variety of corruption counts, including an alleged effort to trade the appointment to the Senate seat for a job or money. The report also disclosed that Mr. Obama, Mr. Emanuel and Ms. Jarrett were questioned by federal prosecutors last week in the corruption inquiry of the governor. Mr. Obama’s two-hour interview took place in his Chicago office, aides said, and he was not under oath or considered more than a witness in the case.

By Jeff Zeleny
Read More

Source Thenytimes.com

Final phase of polling begins in Jammu and Kashmir

Polling for 21 constituencies in the seventh and final round of the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday began amid tight security and overcast sky.
"The voter turn-out was low this morning due to chilly conditions. However, polling staff and security personnel took up their positions at 1,872 polling booths by 7.30 am," an official source said.
Fate of 393 candidates, including former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, former Speaker Tara Chand, two sitting MPs, six former ministers and four ministers of state would be decided in the polls. There are also 31 women candidates and 151 independents trying their luck in this phase of elections.
As many as 70,000 personnel of Central security forces have been deployed in and around the polling booths set up for over 16.91-lakh electorate, including 8,22,671 women voters in Srinagar, Jammu and Samba districts.
Farooq Abdullah, who is contesting from two constituencies, Hazratbal and Sonawar, is the most prominent figure among the candidates.
As compared to 2002 assembly elections when 221 candidates were in the fray, this time a record number of 393 candidates including 31 women and 151 independents are trying their luck in the 21 constituencies.
Jammu-West constituency has highest number of candidates -- 34. It is followed by 29 in Amirakadal, 27 in Bishnah, 26 in Sonawar, 25 in Nagrota, 21 each in Habbakadal and Akhnoor, 20 in Jammu-East, 19 each in Vijaypur and Suchetgarh, 18 each in Batmaloo and Hazratbal, 17 in Gandhinagar, 16 in Zadibal, 15 in Marh, 14 each in Idgah and R S Pura, 12 in Samba, 11 Raipur-domina, 10 in Khanyar and seven in Chhamb.
Srinagar District Election Officer Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo said in order to ensure free, fair and transparent elections, the administration has taken various measures to prevent impersonation, bogus voting and disruption in poll process.

Press Trust Of IndiaSrinagar, December 24, 2008

Read More

Source The Hindustan Times

Mumbai attack: US backs Indian proof of Pak hand

NEW DELHI: The US has endorsed the evidence gathered by Indian agencies about the complicity of Pakistan's state actors in the terrorist attack on
Mumbai
, in what can result in stepped up international pressure on the Zardari regime to take action against the mentors of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Top US intelligence official John Michael McConnell is learnt to have expressed complete satisfaction with the strength of India's
case against Pakistan, based on FBI's examination of call records of satellite and cellular phones used by Mumbai attackers and their Pakistan-based handlers. McConnell confirmed that one of the numbers logged on the satellite phone the terrorists used while navigating their way to Mumbai belonged to known Lashkar terrorist Abu Al Qama. Indian intelligence officials are familiar with the satellite phone that Qama uses. The US, using its leverage with Sharjah where Thuraya is headquartered, corroborated this fact, and also the fact that Qama was passing instructions to the attackers from Pakistani soil. India's case about the Pakistan hand has also been borne out by the data the Americans retrieved, using their superior technology, from the damaged mobile phones used by terrorists while they were carrying out the massacres in Taj and Trident hotels. The phones had got severely damaged in the fire that broke out during the gunfight. "We are committed to get to the bottom of this case," US officials are learnt to have told their Indian counterparts during their interaction spread over 48 hours. The Americans are planning to confront the Pakistanis, still in denial mode, with the evidence that their own investigation has thrown up. Sources said the UK has also passed on electronic intercepts, described by a senior source as "one clinching piece of evidence", to India.

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Source The Times Of India

Gambhir misses feat but India win series

MOHALI, India (Reuters) - Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir missed out on scoring hundreds in both innings before the second test against England ended in a draw on the final day on Tuesday, handing the hosts a 1-0 series win.

Gambhir, 27, who top-scored with 179 in the first innings, fell for 97 before India declared their second innings on 251 for seven after lunch.

England were 64 for one when play was called off as a draw after tea, after the visitors were set an improbable victory target of 403 in 43 overs.

Gambhir was dismissed by a brilliant diving catch at point by Ian Bell, who also ran out Yuvraj Singh for 86 with a direct hit to dash his century hopes.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni delayed the declaration to help both batsmen reach hundreds until they succumbed to Bell, who also ran out opener Virender Sehwag (17) on day four. The match was badly curtailed by poor visibility due to fog.

"We lost around 80-90 overs, it gets really tough (to win) because the wicket was good," Dhoni said. "If you see the first two days there was a bit of moisture in the wicket.

"I think England bowled really well," he added. "After that, the wicket saw sun on the day and it got better to bat on."

Gambhir hit his ninth test fifty to sign off a brilliant year and Yuvraj his fourth. The pair shared a 153-run fifth wicket partnership to revive the innings from 80 for four. The Delhi batsman hit six fours in his five-and-half hour innings, facing 229 balls while Yuvraj scored his runs off just 93 deliveries, hitting six fours and four sixes. By N.Ananthanarayanan

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Source Yahoo.com

Toyota projects first loss in 70 years

The Japanese auto giant forecast its first operating loss in 70 years on Monday, more fallout from the severe slump in vehicle sales that has nearly claimed two Detroit automakers and raised questions over when the U.S. market, Toyota's largest, will hit bottom. Despite the setback, the automaker is still poised to pull ahead of its main U.S. rival, General Motors Corp., to become the No. 1 world carmaker in 2008, industry watchers said. Toyota reported it sold 7.05 million cars worldwide during the first nine months of the year, compared with 6.66 million for GM for the same period. ``They're going to grow and outstrip General Motors, there's no way around that,'' said George Magliano, analyst with IHS Global Insight. Toyota Motor Corp., which is committed to zero layoffs, will continue cutting production to weather the downturn. The automaker also lowered its global vehicle sales forecast for the second time this year and said it was putting ambitious expansion plans on hold, in large part because of a precipitous drop in demand in the U.S. ``The tough times are hitting us far faster, wider and deeper than expected,'' Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe told a gloomy news conference at the company's Nagoya, Japan, headquarters. ``This is an unprecedented crisis requiring urgent action.'' Sona Iliffe-Moon, a spokeswoman for the automaker's U.S. arm., said the company has not had any layoffs since the 1950s. ``As a result of that experience, it became a part of our culture to ensure employment and stability for employees,'' Iliffe-Moon said Toyota had reported strong growth in recent years, boosted by heavy demand for its fuel-efficient models like the Camry sedan and Prius gas-electric hybrid. But Watanabe said a severe drop in demand, especially in North America, which accounts for one-third of vehicle sales, and profit erosion from a surging yen were too much for Japan's No. 1 automaker. Overall U.S. auto sales fell to their lowest level in 26 years last month. ``The change that has hit the world economy is of a critical scale that comes once in 100 years,'' Watanabe said. Toyota said it expects an operating loss of 150 billion yen ($1.66 billion) for the fiscal year ending in March, compared with an operating profit of 2.27 trillion yen ($25.2 billion) a year earlier. Toyota said it would still post a small net profit of 50 billion yen ($555 million), thanks to outside dividend income, down from year-earlier earnings of 1.7 trillion yen ($18.89 billion). But operating income is seen as the best reflection of its core business. The Japanese automaker said it had no intention of drifting from its practice of avoiding layoffs for full-time employees either globally or for its 14 U.S. factories located in the South and Midwest. Instead, it assigns other tasks for employees when it idles plants, such as training or community service. Employees can also take unpaid time off. By YURI KAGEYAMA and DAN STRUMPF Read More

Source Aol.in

Israeli archaeologists find rare gold coins

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Some Israeli archaeologists are having a particularly happy Hanukkah.

Archaeologists found a hoard of gold coins from the 7th century in Jerusalem on Sunday.

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The Israel Antiquities Authority reported a thrilling find Sunday -- the discovery of 264 ancient gold coins in Jerusalem National Park.

The coins were minted during the early 7th century.

"This is one of the largest and most impressive coin hoards ever discovered in Jerusalem -- certainly the largest and most important of its period," said Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets, who are directing the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Researchers discovered the coins at the beginning of the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which started at sunset on Sunday.

One of the customs of the holiday is to give "gelt," or coins, to children, and the archaeologists are referring to the find as "Hanukkah money."

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Source CNN

Will back Pak army in case of hostilities with India: Taliban

Hunted by the US and NATO forces for committing acts of terror in Afghanistan, the Taliban today said they would back the Pakistan Army by deploying hundreds of suicide bombers in case of any military action with India. Read More 

Soruce The Hindustan Times

Govt rejects conspiracy theory on Karkare killing, Antulay does U-turn

Rejecting the conspiracy theory propounded by Antulay over Karkare's death, the home minister said there is no truth in the different versions that have been circulated.

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Source The Times Of India