CWG scam: UK firm owner may turn approver

NEW DELHI: Arrested former Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi may be headed for more trouble with Ashish Patel, the UK-based owner of AM Cars and Films, likely to turn approver in the Queen's Baton Relay case. 

After his arrest in irregularities in the timing, scoring and results contract for the Commonwealth Games, Kalmadi can be booked for payments made to the UK firm for hire of cars, screens and portable toilets for the October 2009 function flagged off by the British Queen in London. 

No contract was entered into with the firm on the plea that the OC had to respond to last-minute demands by British authorities — an argument that is undone by evidence that the organizers were in touch with Patel much earlier. Evidence has also surfaced of Kalmadi himself authorizing payments to the firm quoting paucity of time. 

Now, Patel could be an approver in the two cases related the QBR contract registered by CBI in November 2010. A two-member CBI team that went to London to question Patel, who is also an accused, and to gather other evidence said the businessman had been cooperative. 

"Ashish Patel was questioned twice and he has given us important details on the whole contract. We showed him documents which we have collected during investigations. We told him where he stands," said a source. Officials added that if Ashish Patel did not cooperate, CBI will soon begin the process for his extradition. As he is a British citizen, Patel cannot be arrested by CBI but he was questioned at length on exchange of emails between arrested OC officials Sanjay Mohindroo and T S Darbari, release of payments and the so-called contract. Patel could not explain the documents though CBI could not get a statement given his nationality. 

Patel is expected to submit his reply to the Scotland Yard police department which will pass it on to the CBI. "We have substantial evidence against Patel of his complicity with Darbari and Mohindroo. Being an accused, he could turn approver declaring that he was also part of the conspiracy," said an official. 

Before questioning Patel, CBI took permission of UK's Serious Fraud Office. CBI is also hopeful the SFO will register a case against the car rental firm (AM Cars) for alleged overpricing. 

In its FIR, CBI stated, "It is alleged that in relation to the QBR held on October 29, 2009, the OC awarded the work of transportation to the AM Car and Van Hire Ltd at exorbitantly high rates without following the standard tender process." 

CBI has registered nine FIRs in different cases related to alleged corruption in the mega sporting event held in Delhi on October 3-14 last year.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CWG-scam-UK-firm-owner-may-turn-approver/articleshow/8085335.cms

US lawmakers tell Obama, dump Pakistan and go with India

WASHINGTON: Expressing apprehension that theUnited States is being "taken for suckers" and "looked at as patsies" by Pakistan, two American lawmakers on Tuesday called for strengthening ties with India even as a White House report gave a harshly critical assessment of Islamabad's effort to defeat extremism. 

While administration officials defended Washington's support for Pakistan using the same logic as London is doing on UK Prime Minister David Cameron's ongoing visit to Islamabad ("a difficult partnership with Pakistan is far better than having a hostile Pakistan," one U.S official testified), lawmakers wanted a major reappraisal of U.S outlook for the region. They expressed doubts if any good would come out of the current U.S policy of coddling Islamabad in the face of Pakistani duplicity in combating extremism. Instead, they pushed for even closer ties with India. 

"After 10 years of hearing the same sales pitch I tend to doubt it. I doubt that our money is buying anything that's deep or durable," New York Congressman Gary Ackerman said at a hearing. "I doubt the leaders in the Afghan government and the Pakistani government are going to do anything except pursue their own narrow, venal self interests. I doubt the ISI will ever stop working with us during the day and going to see their not-so-secret friends in the Lashkar-e-Taibaor Jaish-e Mohammed and other terrorist groups at night." 

His California colleague Dana Rohrabacher went even further back to frame the situation in a historical context. "I've been hearing that for 50 years. And I will tell you, a realistic relationship, rather than basing the relationship on wishful thinking, is what will bring about peace in that part of the world. What we've had is wishful thinking and what I call irrational optimism," he said at a hearing called to assess U.S foreign policy priorities in South Asia. 

The critical comments came just hours after a White House report to Congress concluded that after years of work with the Pakistani military "there remains no clear path toward defeating the insurgency" that thrives in the country, remarks that analysts said reflected growing frustration in the administration over Pakistan's commitment to fight extremism. 

Still, administration officials defended Washington's outreach to Pakistan, insisting that the country is vital to US national security interests and suggesting the U.S had no other options. 

But lawmakers were not convinced. Both Rohrabacher and Ackerman, who described U.S ties withNew Delhi as the "one shining light" and "brightest light" respectively of the administration's foreign policy pressed for greater emphasis on India. 

"I would hope that we have the intelligence to work and to make sure that India is our best friend in that part of the world," Rochrabacher said, offering his contrast between the two countries. "The fact is that Pakistan is committed to Islam...India is dedicated to prosperity for their people." 

Amid what lawmakers saw as Washington's compulsive obsession with Pakistan, Ackerman in fact criticized the administration for not using U.S diplomatic leadership and agenda-setting capability to focus global attention to the threat to India from Pakistan-based terrorists, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. 

"If there is, God forbid, another Mumbai-like strike, we will not be able to say that we did our utmost to prevent it because in truth, we haven't," he warned. "The ambitions of these terrorists have only grown and a full-fledged global campaign to crush these thugs still awaits at our peril." 

While critical of Pakistan, the White House report offered no new prescription of how to handle Islamabad, aside from reflecting on the well-known fact that India looms large in the Pakistani military's thinking. 

"As India continues to dominate their strategic threat perception, large elements of Pakistan's military remain committed to maintaining a ratio of Pakistani to Indian forces along the eastern border," the Presidential report to the Congress on Afghanistan and Pakistan said, adding, "This deprives the Pakistani COIN (counter-insurgency) fight of sufficient forces to achieve its 'clear' objectives and support the 'hold' efforts." 

Some analysts have suggested India should take steps to reassure Pakistan about its security, but the broad reading in Washington is that nothing can placate a security establishment that uses a trumped-up or exaggerated Indian threat to extend its stranglehold on the Pakistani people and the country's resources. President Obama downwards, U.S officials have said the Pakistani military's obsession is misplaced. Frustrated lawmakers on Tuesday suggested in effect that the administration simply strengthen ties with India to counter Pakistan's policy.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-lawmakers-tell-Obama-dump-Pakistan-and-go-with-India/articleshow/7886263.cms

At Rs 34 crore, Dhoni highest insured in IPL

MUMBAI: Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is the highest earning cricketer in the world, is the most heavily insured player for the forthcoming Indian Premier League T20 tournament which begins on April 8. 

An insurance firm official confirmed that the Indian captain, who led CSK to victory in IPL 3, has been insured for Rs 34 crore by the Oriental Insurance Company (OIC)-a rise of Rs 24 crore over his insurance cover for IPL 3. CSK has paid a premium of Rs 16 lakh, which includes travel risk cover, including medical emergencies, personal accident and loss of baggage. 

Suresh Raina, retained by CSK, will get an insurance cover of Rs 20.5 crore. Incidentally, little master Sachin Tendulkar, who will play for Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai Indians for the fourth consecutive season, has an insurance cover of only Rs 12 crore. 

Mahela Jayawardene, the skipper of Kochi Tuskers Kerala, has been insured for Rs 20.5 crore. "He seems to be most highly insured overseas player for the tournament," said a source, adding, "Speedster Dale Steyn from South Africa, who will be playing for Deccan Chargers, has been insured for Rs 16 crore." 

According to a source from the insurance industry, every insurance company and IPL team have a different methodology of finalizing an insurance policy. "For example, Ambani has decided to take comprehensive cover for his team, which includes event cancellation cover, workmen's compensation, personal accident cover, medical cover and so on," he said. "For this, he is likely to shell out a premium of around Rs 1.5 crore to the National Insurance Company." 

The cover will be active till the time the final is played on May 28. The policy can be invoked in the event of the death of a player or total disability, permanent partial disability or temporary total disability. The policy holder will be paid compensation for injuries that are sustained on and off the field during the duration of the tournament. One of the rules of IPL is that even if the player is benched due to a disability, he has to be paid his dues by the franchisee. The cover is being taken by the franchisee to cover his or her financial interest. 

Many owners are still in the process of finalizing the insurance cover for their team. "Most of the franchise representatives involved in the insurance negotiations don't understand the trade and there's a lot of confusion," said a source. "Hence the delay in finalizing the insurance policy for many of the teams." 

The official added that many franchise owners seemed to be keen to save money on premium. "However, they do not realize that most of the rates for such risky policies are based on those quoted by reinsures like Llyods of London. Hence, many teams are taking only partial cover to save money on premium, which is a bit risky," he said. Leander Dias, insurance official from OIC, who is an expert on cricket-related policy, is negotiating with several franchises but refused to comment on the developments. 

Incidentally, for the recently held ICC World Cup, the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) bought a group personal accident policy from OIC. Each player can expect a financial benefit up to Rs. 2.3 crore under this policy.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/At-Rs-34-crore-Dhoni-highest-insured-in-IPL/articleshow/7888086.cms

Jahangir portrait sells for a record Rs 10 crore

NEW DELHI: A life-size portrait of Emperor Jahangir, dating back to the 17th century, has become the most expensive Mughal painting sold at auction. The work, which went under the hammer at Bonhams Indian and Islamic Sale inLondon on Tuesday, fetched a king-size price — 1.4 million pounds (Rs 10.2 crore). 

Curators of the National Portrait Gallery, who had featured this work as a star exhibit in a show last year, billed it as the largest painting to come from the Mughal empire. 

Dating from 1617, Jahangir is opulently painted in gold and watercolour on a cotton canvas. He is seated on a European-style chair, with a halo around his head and balancing a globe in his right hand. These allude to his honorific name, Nur al-Din ('Light of the Faith') and to the name that he took on his accession to the throne, Jahangir, meaning 'world-seizer'. Abu'l Hasan, the highest ranking painter of the time, has been suggested as the artist. 

"This is one of the rarest 17th century painting ever to come to auction," said Alice Bailey, head of Indian and Islamic Art at Bonhams. The auction house said the buyer was a Middle Eastern museum. The last time this picture came up at auction was in 1995 when it sold for 573,000. 

While the medium of watercolour and gold on cotton would have been familiar to Mughal artists, experts say the portrait's scale and colouring derive from European oil painting. Large-scale European paintings were known at the Mughal court and Jahangir is reported to have displayed English portraits behind his throne at the New Year festival in 1616-17.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jahangir-portrait-sells-for-a-record-Rs-10-crore/articleshow/7880460.cms

Steve Jobs launches Apple's iPad 2

Belying all rumours of him being extremely ill, Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs CEO on Wednesday night launched second generation iPad 2. ( iPad 2 launch: Apple's shares climb 1.4% ) 

Jobs made his presentation after he was given a standing ovation by a hall full of journalists and analysts from across the world who were probably happier seeing him on stage than iPad2. 

But the new iPad almost stole Jobs' thunder. With price tags beginning at $499 for the 16 GB model, it runs on a new processor A5 which will double the speed and graphic display by nine times. At $899, the highest priced is the 64 GB model with WiFi and 3G. 

Jobs pointed out iPad 2 will have as many as five models that are priced below $799 tag that its just launched rival Xoom from Motorola bears. 

Almost as if inspired by Jobs who is said to be battling severe illness and has shed a lot of weight off late, iPad 2 is a lot thinner than the current iPad (one third), even thinner than the iPhone 4. 

It bears two cameras at back and front for video conferencing; a HDMI port; a smart microfiber case cum stand that is also used to clean it; and will come in both black and white variants. 

iPad 2 will start shipping from March 11 across 26 countries that doesn't include India. In US, both AT&T and Verizon will retail it with bundled data plans. 

Jobs took potshots at all rivals who he said were flummoxed by the success of iPad and could only try to follow what has come to be "best-selling gadget ever". 

"A lot of people have tried to copy this, said Jobs while making reference to sales figures of rivals such as Samsung which claims to have put out more advanced tablets in the market following iPad's launch a year ago. 

"Many have said this is the most successful consumer product ever launched. Over 90% market share... our competitors were flummoxed," quipped Jobs. 

Pooh pooing another rival Google Android's Honeycomb operating system, Jobs said they had only 100 apps to show on it. In contrast, Apple iPad had 65,000 apps just for photography alone. 

"We recently paid out over $2 billion to developers in total. They have earned over $2 billion from selling their apps on the App Store," said Jobs. 

Apple also shipped out 100 millionth iPhone recently. 

The presentation was attended among others by Apple's COO Tim Cook and design head and Jobs' friend Jony Ive who according to unconfirmed reports is believed to be having a 

tussle with the company's board regarding his impending relocation to London. 

Times of India had earlier reported that the much-hyped tablet was accidentally listed on Amazon hours ahead of its official launch before being pulled down. 

Interestingly, while Apple usually gives a makeover to each of its products in a year's time, there is buzz that the company might actually upgrade the just-launched iPad 2 with a far more advanced third generation tablet by the Fall this year itself. 

According to The Economist, however, iPad could see a dent in its market share this year despite projections that Apple could sell 40 million units in 2011 as against 15 million it sold in nine months of 2010. 

Other tablet manufacturers, especially those based on Google's Android operating system, are expected to erode Apple iPad's market share which stood at 90% of total tablet sales last year. Here are 10 most expected tablets to watch out for in 2011 . 

What may be worrisome for Apple is the speculation that by 2015 the company's market share could fall below 40%, said the magazine. 

This year is likely to see a huge number of Android-based tablet PCs flooding the market, with almost every mobile and PC maker jumping in the fray with their alternatives. 

Industry watchers claim that of these, the ones that are most likely to pose a challenge to iPad will be RIM's Playbook and Motorola's Xoom which has just been launched in the market. 

Read more: Steve Jobs launches Apple's iPad 2 - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/gadgets-special/Steve-Jobs-launches-Apples-iPad-2/articleshow/7614734.cms#ixzz1FVXO85o0

Justin Bieber’s 3D Film Never Say Never To Get A Directors Cut

Even though this flick might be running in theatres, Justin Bieber’s 3D film“Never Say Never” will get a director’s cut soon. This movie has already won many accolades in theatres, but Paramount is also planning to launch a special director's cut of it.

The film got good opening and climbed up the charts to take 29.5 million dollars across North America lately.

Although movie director Jon M. Chu has been working till now doing works for this, it is not over yet. He and his team are on their way to Europe for the first showing of “Never Say Never” flick in London in addition to Paris.

Paramount will have to show their film one more time to the rating board as new scenes will be added. As of now, the existing film can continue in theatres.


Source:-http://www.india-server.com/news/justin-biebers-3d-film-never-say-never-38431.html

Fearing action, 'wife-beater' diplomat seeks patch-up

LONDON: Fearing administrative action and possible loss of job, the Indian diplomat in London docked for domestic violence told TOI on Tuesday he wants to patch-up with his wife.

Anil Verma, the third-ranking official in the high commission, said, "I am willing to work it out. I want to patch up." He said he is texting messages to his wife Paromita Verma ever since she left their London home without telling him, but she isn't responding. The two had had a fight early in December and he allegedly hit her, causing a nose-bleed. Verma, an IAS officer, has been recalled by the Indian government and is expected to report to New Delhi this weekend.

"The high commission has been informed that a decision has been taken by the government to transfer Mr Anil Verma and his family to India at the earliest," said a high commission spokesman, and added, somewhat cryptically, "The high commission further sought assistance of UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) to facilitate their early return."

This remark puts the onus on the FCO to ensure that not only Verma, but his wife, children and other dependents (stepson, mother-in-law and maid), in UK on diplomatic passports, return to India concurrently.

Paromita Verma has applied to the British government for "leave of indefinite stay" in the UK on grounds that her life would be in danger if she is sent to India. However, if Paromita — Verma is her second husband — doesn't return to India with him, she is likely to lose her diplomatic passport and not be issued an ordinary passport. She will then become stateless unless British authorities come to her rescue.

Paromita's employment with the Indian Railways — from where she in on two-year study leave — could also be in jeopardy. She is said to visit Chiltern Railways one or twice a month as part of her studies.

The FCO has not responded to the high commission and there is no indication which way the British home ministry will go on Paromita's representation.

After the police got involved, the FCO last month wrote to the high commission asking it to either waive Verma's diplomatic immunity or withdraw the Verma family from UK.